


The Space Between Us

by ElPerezosoRosado



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone, M/M, Shiro (Voltron) Has a Clone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-03 23:10:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 33,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14006901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElPerezosoRosado/pseuds/ElPerezosoRosado
Summary: In an alternative universe where Keith comes back from the Blade of Marmara after season four, Lance and Keith find themeselves utterly lost in their feelings for each other. At one moment it’s clear as day to where they stand, but at the next it’s as foggy as mud water. Even as they start to discover where their emotions lead them, are they able to get over the barrier that separates them and their own distinct worlds?“His blue, bright pupils were like the sea, endless. Like space and all of its vast possibilities.”Like the space between us.





	1. Lance’s POV

**Author's Note:**

> In advance, I’d like to inform y’all that this is my first fanfic that I’ve ever written. It is fairly short, being classified as a novella, and was written roughly over the period of two weeks (yikes). I wanted to write a Klance fanfic over winter break and I am satisfied at what I was able to create. I’ve edited it as I’ve deemed fit and I’m hopeful that the plot cooperates with itself. I hope it’s enjoyable to at least somebody! Get ready for some hardcore fluff by the way. I hope none of you are lactose intolerant, because might I add what I slopishly created is cheesey as fuck.
> 
> As far as warnings are concerned, what I have written is rather tame. There is cursing, yet the lord’s name is never said in vain. There are certainly some crude descriptions, but nothing terribly gruesome or in depth. This fanfic is smut free as well. Feel free to skip over anything that makes you uncomfortable<3

Keith and I panted heavily. Sweat ran down our foreheads and down our bodies, my tan skin being glazed. We subjected ourselves to a new kind of pain that in the end was satisfying. Keith's long black mullet was in knots and it frizzed. We were both extremely exhausted, desiring to sit aside for a break, but we refused to stop. Never had we pushed ourselves so rigorously in our lives. We moved in an ordered manner. Stars glistened and glittered above us. It was a beautiful scene, yet it didn't have to be. 

"Have you had enough?" Keith gasped, his eyes narrowing and his speech slightly impaired with heavy breaths. 

"We've just started." I replied, a smile forming on my face. 

I was pushed onto the floor by Keith. He took his sword and brought it towards my neck. My smile didn't compare to his smirk. 

My expression went black. 

"Six to zero, Lance. You really suck at training. You can dodge attacks pretty decently, but other than that, if I were a Galra soldier working for Zarkon you'd get killed without mercy." He laughed while teasing me. 

"What are you talking about, mullet? I was fantastic out there. Didn't you see me swaying back and forth? Did you see the way I slid to avoid your-" I exclaimed, making dramatic hand gestures before getting interrupted.

"That's enough training for one day." Shiro's voice was projected. He bursted through the doors to the training center alerting both Keith and I that it was time for us to report to our lions for flight practice. 

"This is the only skill I need to work on, Shiro, please give me and Keith a few more minutes." I whined. 

"Keith and I." Keith added, correcting my grammatical mistake. 

Shiro looked at Keith to see some gesture of approval. "Fine, only five minutes though, it would be unfair to hold back the other paladins." The previous pilot of the black lion left with his comment lingering in the room as he made towards the exit. 

Once Shiro left, we continued our bickering. Keith gazed into my dark blue eyes. "Lance, you know you could actually use some pilot practice? If you were more accurate with your target hits-" 

"Oh please, I don't need to hear advice. I would just rather get situated into the battle field. I don't need these silly little recommendations." 

"I'm your mentor?" His face indicated confusion. 

Allura and Shiro collaborated on this buddy system. It was more effective for Pidge and Hunk, due to the fact that Keith and I could never agree on anything. The purpose of the training program was to have us combine our own strengths to eliminate our weaknesses. Our weaknesses happened to be our detestation for each other and our own self worth. 

I hated Keith Kogane. 

He made my heart ache whenever thoughts of him tainted my mind. I'd lay awake at night puzzled at how he crept into my dreams.

"Whatever." I shrugged it off.

Keith was my superior. He was the best pilot at the Garrison. He was top of our class, I had always been second. I would always be second. The black lion choose him, the blue lion discarded me. There would be times of self doubt, times of horrible thoughts that lingered within my mind. Did Voltron really need me? Was I holding back the team? Would they kick me out with Shiro back? 

Shiro was back now and Keith was so much more than a rival. 

"Lance?" Keith questioned. My smug face disappeared and a new tired one formed. 

"Yeah?" I responded.

"Did you actually want to train? All we are doing is standing and talking. I'm not adverse to it, I just think you should have told Shiro you wanted a few minutes of rest before going out."

"Not really, it's nice to just chill. You know? ¿Estaba tranquilo? Shiro doesn't need to know." I winked. 

Keith sighed and rolled his violet eyes at me. He slowly moved his clutched hand to his mouth as he began to chuckle. I felt my heart get punched at the move. 

I collapsed onto the floor, laying completely on the ground. I looked up at the stars and all the galaxies that surrounded the ship. It was unfathomable to think of how far away we were from earth. We were light years from grass, rain, and the ocean. My soul ached at the fact.

Keith decided to lay down next to me. He looked up at the skylights and joined in on the stargazing. 

"What are you doing?" I asked him. I thought he was pushing his boundaries by being beside me like that.

"I'm doing what you are doing. What's so bad about that?" He snapped. 

"I'm just going to go ahead and head to practice. Enjoy the space or whatever, you can have it all." I left with hast throwing a blue towel over my shoulder. In my room, I dressed in my paladin armor that didn't color coordinate with my lion. Once I had finished dressing, I ran into a moody faced Keith, his complexion was burning red from what I suppose was anger. 

"Don't give me that look." 

"What look am I giving you?" His eyes stared right into mine. They were expressionless and beaten. The tension between us grew all the more noticeable.

"This sharpshooter has no time for your attitude. Hasta luego, Keith." I began running backwards projecting what I said louder than needed be. I didn't want to be scolded, I just wanted to avoid him. It's kinda hard when you are stuck on a space ship, constantly reminded at his existence. Constantly reminded that he's your leader and that you have to look up to him. 

When it came down to it, I respected the black lion's choice. I just didn't know if I respected him. I was confused with my own feelings. How could I respect someone who I dreaded being around? I was channeling strange, twisted emotions that I didn't care for. It was a much simpler time when we were both only rivals.

"Lance has arrived and is ready for practice. Let's finally commence." My teeth sparkled as I let them shine through. 

"Oh, yay, I'm so glad you could finally grace us with your presence. It's not like we have been waiting for twenty minutes or anything." Pidge was as snarky as ever. She made it clear that her comment was derived from the depths of sarcasm. 

"Ah, just give him a break- I sure have been enjoying mine." Hunk was quick to side with me as he shoved his mouth with sandwiches. 

"One day my girl will look at me like the way you look at food." 

Hunk shook his head in a questioning manner before we all began laughing. The three of our conversations were cut off as Keith, Shiro, and Allura entered. 

"Paladins, assemble your lions." The princess of Altea said strongly. 

"Well of course, your majesty." I bowed will a sly smirk presented on my face as usual. 

Keith scoffed as he entered the black lion. His condescending demeanor made my blood boil with rage. We both had our minds set on showing our supremacy during this match. It's what rivals did best after all. 

Allura caught my eye, sorrow was her expression. She was worried. 

We engaged on the holographic battlefield. The simulator would ensure that we would be subjecting ourselves to the most prime and realistic environment of war. We would feel everything, but our lives would be intact. That still didn't mean we wouldn't feel the pain of death. Altean technology amazed Pidge the most. 

The picture was painted as such. Keith, the headstrong leader of Voltron, drove the large and mighty black lion. He was one of the most promising pilots of his time, my time. Then there was me, the blue paladin, who converted to the red lion. I wielded all his hand me downs and I was ready to make it across the finish line first. The rules were simple. Get to the end without damaging your lion, hurting yourself, or cheating. Shiro and Coran observed the showdown making sure we obliged to these rules. The winner received a milkshake from Kaltenecker and best of all the pride of bragging rights. That's what Keith and I were fighting for. 

"Alright, paladins, you all know of the rules. Be safe and make it across to the end of the simulator, avoiding all the obstacles if feasibly possible. On your mark, get set, go!" Coran yelled. 

Keith's lion roared as he pounced into first place. He dodged each obstacle with ease and beauty. My face turned red as I had my lion brush past Pidge's, Hunk's, and Allura's lion. I messily caught up with Keith. The technique that I did have was considered a disaster, I was a danger hazard. Slow and steady didn't win this race.

Coran and Shiro were not allowed to interfere unless our lions were to go down. They were strictly there to record our abilities. I was everything lacking. 

I pushed the red lion harder than I pushed myself during combat practice with my rival. I could feel the machine get tired. In truth, a small part of myself knew that she would fail. My desire to win got the best of me and she collided into a large rock structure that formed on the surface of the simulator. 

My eyelids grew heavy with the weight of losing, more importantly acting like an incompetent fool. I fell into a deep sleep. The team calls it a comma, I call it a waking-up call.


	2. Keith’s POV

"Is Lance going to be alright?" I asked Pidge who was absorbed by the chaos of Lance's concussion. She had been maintaining his healing pod alongside Allura. The only two females aboard the ship had incredible understanding of Altean technology, which was expected of the princess and our nerd. They both seemed frantic about his subtle injury, that put me on edge. 

I felt responsible for what happened to Lance. As the pilot of the black lion, I took on the title as the leader of Voltron- I was the head. Allura frequently assumed the credit of our group, if it be fortune or misfortune, but for some reason I felt guilty for what had happened. 

I didn't know how I got on his nerves earlier. I thought back to when he came into my bedroom for reassurance and how I thought I properly delivered him exactly that. It seemed like this huge sense of weight was taken off him, but now I seemed to be his mortal enemy. I received more satisfaction I guess than he did, the fact that he'd come to me in the first place, Shiro was gone at this point. Lance had always been cocky like that I thought, I could never tell what he was thinking. 

"He'll be alright." Pidge smiled as she turned her head to look at me. 

"What a relief." Allura exhaled, taking a seat on one of the palace's many cushioned chairs. "I have no idea how he manages to do this to himself." She lightly dabbed a handkerchief on her left temple of her forehead, expressing how overwhelmed she was with anxiety. It thankfully subsided, whenever the princess was anxious it typically wasn't a good indication that everything was running smoothly.

I also loosened up at the thought of him being alright. 

"Keith, Lance is going to be fine. He'll probably just be out for a few days. If any of us knows that simulators are strenuous it's you." Pidge cleaned her glasses by rubbing them on her green sweater. It was an oversized piece of clothing for her to wear, she wasn't very fond of flaunting off her frame. Pidge promptly placed her large circled frames back onto her face alongside with displaying a calming expression. 

"I really thought this would be the last time." Hunk decided that instead of sharing his typical comic relief, sharing discouraging news when all seemed to be settling down was a better decision. Hunk was acting out of character, but his sentence seemed to slip out of his lips. I brushed aside that he said it, but I didn't discard the meaning.

"What do you mean by the 'last time'?" Disheartened confusion was hidden deep within my eyes. My brow furrowed at the thought. 

"Oh, you never heard?- I thought Pidge would have told you by now." Hunk tried explaining before getting interrupted. 

"I thought you were supposed to tell him? Besides, it never seemed too important." Pidge attacked Hunk. 

"Can one of you just explain what's going on?" I broke up the bickering between the pilot of the green lion and the pilot of the yellow lion.

Hunk continued with what he had started, "Well, back at the Garrison, Lance wasn't always a super skilled cargo pilot. I remember when he first started and how timid he was. He'd get motion sickness easily. I'm definitely worse now of days, with the late start and all, but Lance has always been pretty uneasy flying. He must have been too caught up in beating you that he let his own pride overtake him." 

What an idiot Lance was. 

"Considering Lance did run into a rock formation, that definitely adds to the turbulence the lion experienced." Pidge was sure to mention. 

"Oh yeah, that too." Hunk responded to her dry mouthed comment.

Some time passed after our brief conversation faded. Hunk, Pidge, and I congregated in the center of the castle-ship's bay. Allura and Coran, who were in the front, were preparing coordinates to take off to another planet. We would only leave once Lance was out of the pod that he was regenerating in. 

Lance hibernating out in pods wasn't a novel concept. Back in our early days of Voltron, he was hit hard once during a battle scene. It resulted in me carrying him back to the Altean castle once the Galra had retreated. I cradled him in my arms. He healed just fine, but surely enough he forgot of the bonding moment. That's what concussions did- Lance needed all of the memory storage he could get and that occasion seemed to be of little worth in his thick head. 

"Pidge, your assistance is required. Coran and I are having a hard time coming up with an accurate equation to depict a credible pinpoint." Allura called out. 

"Duty calls." The pilot of the green lion leaped out of her chair and hastily began helping out the princess.

Hunk left the room shortly after to prepare dinner for all of us. It was one of the only tasks he didn't mind helping with. He loved cooking and whenever he wasn't helping us fight against the Galra, he was in the kitchen. 

Now with only my thoughts to keep me company, I fell deep within my mind. 

Shiro wasn't acting like himself and I thought the same was happening to me. Ever since he had returned, there was something off about him that I couldn't detected. We were all changing in some shape or form. We all had been able to adjust to a life up in space, it's food, and it's culture. I was forced to adjust to the fact that I had Galra lineage flowing through my blood. I had thoughts of retiring as leader, now that Shiro was here, but I didn't know if I trusted him completely. He seemed fake.

Lance's gesture made me question my leadership. He had the urge to sacrifice his security just for a milk shake. He couldn't just let go of the rivalry I was willing to put past us. I wouldn't be apposed to throwing around a few pestering punchlines, but I was sick of the punches. Had I been over analyzing his actions?

Lance was always there to support me. I tried my best to support him. I must have failed. I've failed as a leader. He was now hurt and it was all my fault. There had been times when I risked the lives of the team for my own selfishness. And to possibly think that he respected the black lions decision. 

What was Lance trying to prove, that he is better than me? My world seemed to be upside down, I need guidance.

"Keith, do you mind talking for a second?" Shiro came up from behind, his question followed. 

"Not at all." My head still filled with thoughts of the blue paladin. 

Shiro positioned himself to where our conversation would be more discrete. The others, excluding Hunk, had the ability to easily overhear us, but considering the work they were engaged in it seemed very unlikely. His new hair cut, that didn't fit his character in my opinion, grabbed my attention away from Lance. 

"You seem really on edge about Lance, do you need to talk anything out?" 

Whenever I did doubt the legitimacy of Shiro, he would always come through and he'd offer advice at the most opportune times- something I looked up to him for. Shiro was like a father figure to the team, but to me he was like an older brother.

"Am I really that transparent? I feel so much like an idiot." I sulked. 

"A great leader is always worried about their team, either if it includes the entire or just one member. Keith, you are doing everything you can. Stop beating yourself up."

"It's so hard not too! I keep getting bombarded with all these pressures. Why won't you take the title back? Voltron needs someone like you. You have the experience and I'm sure it won't take much to initiate your bond with the black lion again-" I stoped ranting when I noticed the light in Shiro's face had faded. 

"There is another reason why I am here." He started, "The Blade of Marmora has offered you a position, considering your Galra lineage. If you choose to accept, I will pilot the black lion. This is ultimately up to you and you'll have plenty of time to makeup up your mind. They will need to know in the next week or so." 

I wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for Allura's bond with the blue lion and I wasn't going to go and steal back the red lion from Lance. Lance was worried about this happening. None of this would have occurred if Shiro didn't get lost into space and separated. In the end, all of it did happen. Deep down I wished I was back in Texas and that none of this did happen. Alone. 

As the current leader of Voltron, I had to do what was best for the team. We were fighting against the Galra, the coalition came first. 

I nodded at Shiro making eye contact before he left due to another painful migraine he typically endured. My eyes wondered over to Lance's pod. I froze for a solid five second period or so before jumping. Lance opened his eyes dramatically- gazing right into mine. His blue, bright pupils were like the sea, endless. Like space and all of its vast possibilities. 

He was still in the healing pod, but he was awake.


	3. Lance’s POV

My thoughts were all over the place, like a thousand bouncing particles heating up a once cold room with kinetic energy. Pidge solely credited for making the analogy. 

At the time, I was confused to where I was and what had happened. I had a hard time figuring out those details due to my splotchy vision and the several bits of white speaks that surrounded me. It all seemed to contribute to my lack of understanding. 

I had this desire to fall back asleep, but I pushed myself to stay up. I had spent way too much time in those pods for me to waste another day. The one thing my eyes could view as clear as day were Keith's intense gaze with the addition of his stupid mullet. 

Before my vision began to clear up and I could piece together all of what had happened during the quote on quote race, Pidge and Allura were running over to the control panel frantically. The panel operated the pod's functions. 

My eyes grew heavy as I fluttered my lashes. A slight sour smile grew on my face, I was terribly weak. Keith and I never broke eye contact. I saw his pity for me.

I was physically and emotionally overwhelmed by the situation and was forcibly brought into a medically induced sleep. Pidge made the decision as I still needed to rest to regain my strength completely. Everyone else deemed it to be the wisest choice, and they were happy enough with the news that I was alright. Me suddenly waking up out of no where comforted my friends. 

When I did wake up it was the morning after. I had the energy of a thousand suns and I felt so ready to take on a hundred Galra, wait no, one hundred plus ten Galra- a thousand. I was never great with math.

I hadn't felt so refreshed since my last rendezvous with the healing pod. It was honestly quite nice. Everyone, that being Hunk and Pidge, made sure to tease me about how I always ended up in one of the pods. They consisted of either puns to straight up insults, but I was able to see the humor in them. 

"You spend more time with that healing pod than you do a girl. That healing pod likes you more than any alien gal we've ran into?!" Hunk snorted. Pidge rolled her eyes, questioning to add a comment. 

"Well I can't pick up any ladies without any beauty sleep, am I right? The healing pods do wonders for my skin. You are really miss out." I didn't let what Hunk had to say get in my head. I knew he was just playing around, but my confidence concerning my pick-up skills had been exponentially decreasing. Being a paladin of Voltron meant I was well known across the galaxy, yet I still couldn't strike a date with a hot alien girl. I was supposedly the fan favorite, maybe Shiro was. The more I pondered about it I didn't really even want to date some random babe from another planet- It just wouldn't work out. 

In between fighting Zarkon and defending the universe, there just wasn't much time for messing around. Settling down in a relationship would take a lot of commitment that I was just not ready for yet. 

Allura being a perfect example. She's beautiful, intelligent, and generous. The total package! Sure she doesn't always acknowledge how amazing I am, but she's more focused on our mission first and foremost. I also enjoy the rush of the hunt- it's fun to fight and flirt. I thought that my team was first for me. The sooner all of this was over the sooner I could return home.

If I could recall correctly, us paladins of Voltron were interviewed not too long ago. We all had brief chapters filmed on us and they thought that mine should be about lover boy Lance's nonexistent love life. All of our chapters were edited by the managers of the coalition. It was an ingenious tactic to recruit new allies. Aliens from across the galaxy had an opportunity to identify with us. For whatever reason, none of us had the chance to view them. In the end we just didn't seem to mind. Shiro never had to film one, despite being the previous black lion. 

Pushing all that aside, something changed. Maybe changed isn't the best word.

"Lance, you are awake?!" Keith bursted through the doors. 

"Yeah." I raised a brow at his presence, "Why such an entrance?" It had been me to ask the leader of Voltron if I was worth anything to the team. Now, I noticed he was here for me after my little accident. My own idiocy got in the way of things. Such subtle little things. 

He seemed to not know what to say as he fiddled with his hands, "Uh, are you feeling alright? It looked pretty bad out there what you did to yourself." 

"I'm fine, buddy."

Pidge and Hunk exchanged glances during our oddly awkward conversation. I internalized it as our rivalry tension fading away and it being replaced with something else. I didn't like what was happening. 

"I am glad to hear-"

"I'll be in my room, I have a few things I need to catch up on after sleeping for so long. I'll catch up with you guys later." I interrupted the em with the horrible haircut and what he had to say. In other words, I excused myself from what was being unfolded.

Pidge and Hunk froze, their expression went blank at what they saw. As I left the room I heard their muffled voices gossip at my action to leave so swiftly. I couldn't get Keith's face out of my head. He looked so saddened. 

I ran. 

When I finally made it to my quarters I collapsed on my bed. My legs were shaking even as I laid defenseless. My heart raced and it spun in circles. Inside, my gut felt twisted. There had been a deep pit that had been growing and growing. The pit finally grew into something that I could identify. It's presence was imposing.

The pit belonged to a fruit tree and that fruit tree bared a delicacy most dreamed of finding. It was hard to achieve, hard to grow, and hard to take care of. My only issue was that I refused to accept the fact and yet it still thrived. I had growing feelings for Keith. 

I had tried waiting them out, hoping that they would subside. I thought that maybe I was having these feelings out of a way to grieve the loss of not seeing my family. I didn't know what to think, I couldn't think, and when I could it would be of Keith Kogane. I was caught in a landslide. 

Who said anything about falling in love- who said anything at all?


	4. Keith’s POV

I was left stunned at his eagerness to avoid me. Lance had been sending me mixed messages for awhile and now I had finally mustered up the courage to confront him. Clearly, I received the answer I was looking for without him having to say a thing. 

"What's wrong with your boyfriend?" Pidge slid in, her glasses concealing her eyes. 

"Lance isn't my boyfriend!" I spat. I crossed my arms as I left. Hunk sighed at us. I wanted to forget that the entire thing had just happened.

As I was leaving, I ran into Shiro. He saw the discomfort in my face and he could tell I was upset. He looked me up and down before he placed his robotic hand on my shoulder, "Are you alright, Keith, something seems to be bothering you?"

I sighed, "It's just Lance. I don't know what I was expecting from seeing if he was doing well- he's just cocky as all ways. Some people never change and I thought we were getting over our rivalry and now I don't know what to think. After him insisting on beating me it's clear that he still thinks of me like that, but I thought we were moving past that. He came and talked to me, to confide in me one day, Shiro. What am I doing wrong?!" I ranted with little breaths in between. He let me vent my frustrations regarding the pilot of my previous lion. Once I stoped speaking, he took a second to come up with a few words of wisdom, but it seemed he couldn't in the time he was given.

"Give Lance some more time, he'll eventually learn that this rivalry can be put aside. You two have been growing on each other and I've seen a lot of progression." He formed a supportive smile. 

I was put off by what Shiro had to say. I didn't like the idea that I had to wait. I desperately wanted to know Lance's motivation behind all his actions, but I didn't want to confront him after having lead up to that point and him just walk out. Shiro's words seemed to be generated, programmed. 

"Shiro, I've decided I want to join the Blade of Marmora. I'm backing out, I am not the leader you thought that I was cut out to be. I have mislead Voltron on countless occasions and you should have stepped in immediately after you came back. I might be able to offer more to the Blade of Marmora than as the leader of Voltron, you are more capable than I am regardless. I only see this helping our cause." My eyes were stuck on the floor. I didn't have the courage to look Shiro in the eyes, I made my point clear.

"I'll inform the Blade Of Marmora then, Keith." Some concern was present in his voice. 

My intentions were pretty clear to me at that moment. I wanted to prove a point. Lance was going to be stubborn, and so would I- but more so I didn't want to be rejected by him. His rejection would lead to everyone discarding me. I would leave Voltron knowing that I left and that I wasn't pushed away. 

I would inform the team of my decision after a few missions with the Blade of Marmora. Due to this, I had been neglecting my duties. I hadn't been much of a leader despite how hard I had tried to be one. I was doing my best to distance myself and I accomplished exactly that.

"Guys, I-uh, I heard what happened. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help." I was taken aback by their cruel, judging glares. I was looked down upon by my team. 

"You keep saying you're sorry, but your actions display opposing intent." Allura stood her ground, emphasizing the importance of our mission that I've seemed to be backing out on. "You do realize that your absence put the team in jeopardy?" 

I was unclear with what was at hand It sounded to me that I had failed once again, much like Lance's simulation crash landing. 

Lance added onto Allura's statement and my guilt, "Our team wasn't even the biggest concern of it all..." There was this hesitance and meekness to what he had said.

Pidge was sure to join in on the fun, interrupting Lance. "-the entire quadrant was in trouble. We were barely able to save them and ourselves from Galra troops."

I was appalled, "This is not the way I expected this to happen, but if there's any conciliation to any of this, my absence has allowed an opportunity for Shiro to re-establish his bond with the black lion." Apparently when everything had gone straight to shit, Shiro leaped into action. The black lion was all too accepting of its previous paladin. "Shiro can finally be the leader again, the leader I've been unable to be. I'm not meant to pilot the black lion."

"Is that why you've been pulling away from your duties? Allura's anger faded quickly. It almost turned into an expression that emulated pity. 

"Yeah." I exhaled deeply before I announced my news, "The Blade of Marmora has requested that I joined. I've accepted their offer and it'll only be better for the team, taking on this mission means the possibility of infiltrating Lotor's plans and uncovering his whereabouts. I have to do this for Voltron and Shiro needs to lead again, I'm only holding back the team staying here where I can actually make a differnce somewhere else."

Shiro smiled, winking at me and my reveal to the team. I believed that he thought that this was the best decision I could make for the team. He saw how overwhelmed I had become as the leader. He didn't regret his decision to have me lead in his absence, but he also knew he wasn't contributing much back in the sidelines. "Just know that we will always be here for you whenever you need us." He said with care. 

"I know. I can't tell you how much that means to me." I forced an insincere smile. It pained me to leave. 

Shiro and I exchanged a hug as everyone looked back either crying or in awe of my decision to leave Voltron. Hunk was the first to join in on my hug with Shiro, quickly everyone else engaged in the farewell gesture. Lance was the last to.

"We are all going to miss you, Keith." A single tear droplet formed in Pidge's eye. 

"Yeah, who am I going to pester now...?" Lance's voice seemed tired and on verge of breaking down. I gathered it was from the previous mission. It must have worn him out. I would have thought that he'd jump on the opportunity to bash on me for not being a proper leader. 

Allura smiled brightly, she was proud of my decision and she agreed with every painful word I had previously said, "I know what you'll do will only bring honor."

What Allura had said to me was the last thing I had heard from the group that was to be taken as a collective comment. The embrace was broken up and their shattered smiles and tears continued. I took only one glance before continuing my departure and in that glance I looked directly at my rival. He looked backed at me and I read the same expression as I had been gathering. I didn't know what he wanted and I didn't know what he felt, but I wasn't going to be rejected. 

That's why I left.


	5. Lance’s POV

You probably would just like me to fill you in with all the details. Keith had spent his time with the Blade of Marmora, giving me a long time to continue questioning my feelings. He now was no longer a member of Voltron, Shiro took back his place as the black paladin and as our leader. Pidge eventually found her older brother Matt. Matt and I joined together to become a pretty sick meme duo. He grew a crush on Allura and I wouldn't let him have her so easily. I was protective over the princess and she deserved someone that would look over her- she never needed anyone to protect her though. Coran organized events to spread the news of the peace Voltron could bring and we successfully recruited several allies. Lotor and Zarkon were just as dangerous as ever and we all had to keep our eyes out. 

It was difficult to enforce concentration with so much occurring so quickly, but nothing seemed to compare to how quick Keith was to sacrifice himself in an attempt to take down one of Zarkon's shields. Luckily and strangely enough, Lotor was there to step in before Keith could pull through with his irrational decision. And so you are left with the aftermath, Lotor joining the coalition and Keith coming back from what wasn't a simulation, which made him all the more stupid.

"Where the quiznak is Keith?" I tumbled out of my lion trying to get in contact with the other paladins. 

"Lance, settle down. He is by the port and he's making his way to the castle." Shiro calmly replied to the frantic mess I was. 

"I'm not waiting that long." I asserted my intention, pushing through my comrades. Pidge's and Hunk's footsteps followed my staggered ones. They were both eager to see Keith after so long. 

He had the audacity to never call, we couldn't reach contact with him. Allura wanted him to make the effort to communicate first. He never did. I patiently waited for at least a meager phone call and still I received not even a greeting. The princess was persistent with her belief that he'd need to be unbothered by us. I was unsure why I complied to her wishes, they were against my own. 

I ran. Running felt like I was going no where. It was as if I was going through never ending tunnels in a horror movie. Eventually, I got to a point where all the hallways concluded. I was at a dead end and the dead end started with the frizzed, mullet maniac. 

His eyes lit up as if he had just been shot by a gun. He took a few steps back as I made my way up to him. My eyes were stern, my hands became tight fists. 

I grabbed Keith by the collar of his armor. I saw that his wide eyes quickly conformed into an angry gaze. I drew my fist against his cold, pale face. I punched him and as soon as that happened we were both on the floor tearing at each other. Pidge stood by in horror and Hunk, I believe, began to cry. We fought hard unlike we have ever before- it wasn't like we were practicing for battle. We weren't partners, this was past rivalry, we were enemies. 

Shiro was called over to break up the fight. I thought that we'd tear off his robotic limb before he could separate us and our rage. We exerted so much force on each other. We bruised ourselves, Keith gave me a black eye and I gave him a bloody nose. 

We stared at each other in either horror or gratitude- possibly both. We needed the shit knocked out of us. I needed to feel him in the flesh. 

I was locked in my room as punishment. I received scorns from the team and I was informed I'd be scolded in the morning by Allura. Yes 

What I did was deemed as an act of disrespect, I should have been welcoming and respectful and grateful at his arrival. Little did they know I was grateful.

I broke out of my room. You pick up a fair trade of escaping skills when you are cooped up in the Garrison with a curfew. I always did it to sneak out with Hunk, hit the city, and pick up some girls. I was now sneaking out for some boy. 

I was successful in my efforts. Keith's bedroom was directly next to mine, meaning I had to be careful. I didn't know if he was awake, nor did I know if he was locked in too. He wasn't- it wasn't like he started the brawl. The doors slid open to where I walked in on Keith playing with one of his knives. He turned over to look at me with dark circles under his eyes and dried blood on his nose. 

"Did you come here for more?" He asked. His voice was tired and his appearance only assisted in conveying it.

"No. I'm too worn out to pull off that again." I tried to smile to lighten up the mood, but Keith's face was blank and devoid of feeling. He was only tired. My eye throbbed.

I walked further into the room. I thought it would have been too soon to sit next to him, so I continued to stand. I was weak and I wondered if he could see that. 

"If you have nothing to say, you can leave. I'm busy as it is. I don't want to talk to you right now." 

"That's the thing, Keith, I want to talk to you so badly-" I was starting to sound desperate. I saw his eyes light up with surprise, I loved it whenever that happened. They were so full of hope. They were pure, it was like the world could never do any wrong to him. "Why did you avoid us when you were working for the Blade of Marmora? Do you know how long I waited to hear from you? Allura said I shouldn't make calls, that we'd wait for you. There's a time when you give up waiting." 

"Lance, I-" He began to say. 

"I'm not finished there. How dare you sacrifice yourself? Me going off trying to pretend I'm better than you in some simulation is different than you going off and getting yourself killed." Tears began to form in my eyes, "You are so stupid sometimes."

Keith stood up. I couldn't tell if he was amazed or overjoyed. He really had no good reason to be jubilant, but he was shocked at the very least. 

I bit my bloody lip, doing my best not to let out an outburst of bundled feelings. He could detect that I was holding back. He looked directly at me, his dark, violet eyes melting me as every second passed. His mouth uttered one simple phrase that send me in a spiral. 

"I'm sorry, Lance." He seemed burdened. Those words seemed to uphold authenticity, they were spoken in a way that would make up for the most sadistic of betrayals. Keith had only been doing what he thought was best for the coalition, he was brave to risk his life. I was selfish to care so much about losing him. He was never mine to lose.

I wrapped my arms around him, the same arms that had beaten him to a pulp were embracing him in an endearing hug. I never wanted to let go. I didn't want there to ever be a chance where he wouldn't be next to me, beside me, or not with me at all. 

A part of me thought about spending the night in his room. Our relationship was hanging over a steep, rocky hill and I had managed to bring it away from dangerous grounds- I mended what little friendship we had. There was this great divide that we couldn't ignore. Neither of us knew how to break it down and possibly only I wanted it to crumble. Despite being able to say I was the one to hug him first, he also reciprocated. 

He cradled me in his arms.


	6. Keith’s POV

Lance left my bedroom shortly after the confrontation. Tears stained my shoulder, but I didn't mind. I noticed the pain he was in because of his black eye. I also happened to notice a cut that ran down from the bottom to the top of his lip- a cut I gave him. 

I didn't expect my arrival back to be so hectic. Lance was shoved in his room. I was taken to the medic to have a therapeutic bath to tend to my bruises and they let my nose bleed subside. Lance, however, didn't have this treatment. It was strange for me to think that he wouldn't be cared for the same, Alteans were big on equality. 

Lance went out of his way to leave his room. He broke through the Altean lock system which was advanced. I knew if Allura really wanted to keep him there the lock would have been a lot stronger.

I fell back onto my bed with an active imagination. All this time I had thought he hated me. I was pushing him away because he had done the same to me. I didn't understand what Lance felt for me, though, I knew without a doubt it wasn't hatred. 

I was flustered at the memory of him hugging me, hell, I was red when I made the bold move to lay next to him while training with him on that one fateful day. We've both grown up since then, but we were still dense. 

I considered that our interactions between each other would be different. I wanted to get rid of our rivalry, but I didn't want to get rid of the friendly banter between us- was he flirting all this time? Was he playing hard to get?! 

I couldn't sleep that night. I had a hard time readjusting to my room, but I had an even more difficult time getting my thoughts of Lance out of my head. I felt foolish about my night dreams of him, the one good thing about working with the Blade of Marmora meant I was constantly busy to where I didn't have the time to dwell on such troubling thoughts. 

I didn't think I was good enough for him. He always played this persona of dominance, this act that he was superior. He knew what he wanted and he'd express it completely. I just didn't know if he wanted me. I wanted him. I wanted him so badly. 

I hadn't even mentioned my feelings for Lance to Shiro. I liked boys. I liked Lance. I didn't need some big coming out party, I just needed advice on how to approach the straightest guy I knew. 

There had been times where I couldn't stand all the waiting. There had also been times where I couldn't stand to look at him without my feelings erupting like a volcano. 

I had it bad and I could acknowledge that. I was a lone wolf desiring to break away from solitude. 

Back at the Garrison all that I did do was work, I didn't have friends to distract me from my studies. The authorities thought of me as a natural, my technique was considered flawless. I'd excel at every assignment thrown at me, other than peer projects or group assignments. I remember when I was once assigned with Lance. He seemed so prideful, but he was comfortable to be around. He'd nudge me while we worked, he'd pester me. We were the top students in our class. 

"So, Keith, do you have a girlfriend?" I remember him casually asking. 

"No. I'm not looking for one either." I closed myself off from him and his silly question.

"It's hard to sneak out and get a date. I'm sure you couldn't be bothered, not a lot of people are. I, on the other hand, am going to marry a beautiful girl. My buddy Hunk and I have been sneaking out trying to hook up with some ladies, you can join us sometime. I think I only want one kid, my family is pretty big as it is. We will have a quant, little house close to my parents and cousins. It'll be just by the outskirts, no, maybe in the city. I don't have everything worked out yet. Do you ever wonder who you'll end up with, Keith?" He turned to look over at me with his pretty eyes. 

"Uhh, no?" I stumbled. 

"You're not a man of many words. You'll find yourself someone who will do all the talking for you." He laughed and then proceeded back on track with our assignment. We were silent the entire time from there on out. He was a focused beauty. I felt my chest tighten. 

I knew I wasn't big on girls. I didn't have the desire nor did I want to end up like my deadbeat dad. My mom left us both, my father was clueless on how to raise a son on his own. 

I've looked at boys my whole life in curiosity. I was confused to why they were so obsessed with females. I felt odd and disassociated with my peers for this reason. My mother leaving me didn't help either. I'd have these phases where I just felt awkward. I didn't believe I belonged in my own body. I'd look at boys in curiosity. I was curious and wanted to touch them, I wanted to kiss them. 

Lance was the straightest boy I had ever met while I felt like a bent ruler. I did an exceptional job hiding my feelings from anyone, it was a skill that I have picked up from the neglect in my childhood. It had been heightened though, all of it. I needed to confess to someone before I inflated and Lance discovered I had feelings for him. I didn't want to be denied, but there is always that risk with confessions. 

When the morning came, I decided I wanted to make the most with my first full day back. Lance was still asleep and I didn't feel like bothering him, I hit him hard. He was a lot stronger than me. I didn't know what I'd do without that therapeutic bath. 

"Oh, Keith, you're up." Pidge said surprised. 

I ran into Pidge while walking down the corner of the hallway.

"Why are you surprised?"

"I expected you to still be asleep. Lance is practically knocked out in another comma." Neither of us laughed at her joke. 

"I didn't go to bed last night." I wanted to yawn. 

"Huh, that honestly doesn't surprise me. Was anything keeping you up?" She smirked, crossing her arms. 

"Yeah, actually." I avoided eye contact to save myself from the embarrassment. It didn't work.

"Let me guess, were you having gay thoughts about Lance again?" Her laidback speech sent me on edge. 

"Yes, I was." I was too far gone in my feelings to deny them, it wouldn't do me any good. "How did you know?" I instantly regretted admitting it.

"You moan his name in your sleep sometimes.”


	7. Lance’s POV

It had taken a long time for me to come to terms with my sexuality, I was bisexual. I didn't jump up and down at my discovery, nor did I shout it out to the world. All that it did was deliver myself this sense of closure. I had finally accepted myself and my feelings for Keith. Maybe it's not considered gay in space? I had flirted with tons of girls while on missions, but I never really considered if they upheld the same sexual preferences as Earth. I was bisexual in that sense alone, yet it wasn't like I was up on space's social norms. 

I slept in till late. I was emotionally exhausted from the night before. I felt worthless and in a funk from all the sleep I had gotten, I was sure to feel drowsy throughout my day. 

"Allura is waiting for you. You can do all you want to avoid her, but she's going to converse with you one way or the other." Hunk slid by and whispered this into my ear. He later resumed his typical composure. "Have you had the chance to meet Lotor yet?"

"No, why would I have?" I was moody off the sleep high.

"You know he's the one who saved Keith's life?" 

¡Caray! 

"I guess I'll pay the prince a visit, but first I have some explaining to the princess, don't I?" I was upset. 

"You do. I've never seen anyone so angry before. What did Keith do-" I raised a brow at him and he went silent. 

"It's a part of our rivalry, Hunk, I don't need to have a reason."

"I don't think Allura will appreciate that answer." Hunk's remark made me laugh, I was glad to have my day slightly brightened. 

I had no reason to be down, other than knowing I'd have to live through a scolding session of Allura's. If I died, Keith would take back the red lion. It's funny how it would all work out in the end. 

I knocked on the door to Allura's quarters. "Who's there?" She projected her voice, yet it was still quiet enough to barely be heard. The doors to her bedroom were for the most part sound proof. 

"It's me, uh, Lance. Hunk sent me to talk to you?" I replied back. 

"Come in." She said sternly. 

I opened up the doors, amazed at her spacious bedroom. It was decorated and definitely fit for a princess. Never had I been endorsed in a regal setting like her room. A tall chandelier hanged down above her large bed. It was strange to think that Altean architecture could be just as beautiful as Earth architecture, more so the French's. Her bedroom was like a futuristic take on it all. 

I took in a deep breathe before she started to ramble on. Her words started to bore me after the first five minutes. Each and every one of her statements seemed to have upheld the same oppressive meaning. Her phrases soon started to lack taste as the fire in her voice grew. I absolutely dreading what she was saying. 

Her words were not of encouragement, they didn't make me ponder my actions, they only made me regret hitting Keith just to avoid Allura's lecture. It was a very efficient punishment. Lesson learned. 

When she ran out of air, I thought about making a run for it. I didn't want to take the chances of her berating me again. I just sat there, tired and sick of listening. 

"Lance, I know there must have been greater incentive than simply picking a fight. Do you mind sharing your emotions on the matter?" I had wished she started off with this question. As much as I would hate telling her my motive, it would have been easier to deal with than hearing out nonsensical mockery concerning my actions and then being forced to answer her question. I felt like Keith, he hated to open up to people.

"Allura I can't give you a good answer on that one." My voice felt like it wanted to break.

"And why is that?" She began to boil, the princess was on the verge of going off again on another angry rebuke. 

Shiro had walked into the room to see what had kept us as he began to fold his arms, "Lance, is everything okay? If you can't confide in Allura we can talk instead." The princess and Shiro both eyed each other in agreement. He had come to save me from another insufferable lecture. 

"I'm sorry, princess." I looked down from her eyes to indicate that I would rather disclose my feelings with someone else. I knew she couldn't sympathize on the level Shiro could. I was burnt out. 

Allura tried her best to hide her concern, but it showed through like a lightbulb in a translucent light shade. She nodded in understanding as she left her own room. If I was going to go off punching the person that I had romantic feelings for, that was a good enough reason to be worried, though, she didn't know that. I knew she was upset that I wouldn't explain myself to her.

He sat me down speaking in a calm, comforting tone. Allura and Shiro both had drastic methods on offering emotional support, "What has been making you so uptight lately?" He spoke with a gentleness. 

I looked him dead in the eyes without a lack of hesitation, "I've been suppressing these feelings for Keith. I was overwhelmed that he was going to sacrifice himself, maybe a little enraged." 

"I know, we all were, but you need to think rationally next time." He put his robotic hand on my shoulder, "You believe you like Keith?" 

"Why would I go out of my way to make up the fact that I like him?" We sat in quiet as I thought about it. "Shiro, I see where you are coming from. Why would I even admit to liking him." My last sentence wasn't a question.

There was a long silence between us. I began to cover my warm face with my hand out of frustration. I was the one to break the long pause, "Can I leave already?" 

"Go ahead." I thought he had nothing else to say, "Thank you for telling me, Lance, I want you to know you don't have to go through this alone."

This was a terrifying discovery that I had been dealing with on my own. Letting those words out made me acknowledge how real everything felt, how relieved I was to receive support. 

I knew that my comrades in the long run wouldn't be phased by the news and I knew that my family would accept me to the same extent, I was fortunate to be able to rely on this. Personally, it scared me to have such in-depth feelings for another person regardless if it was a boy or not.

Commitment is a force that weighs down even the strongest of men. It would weight me down, that being said if Keith would return the feelings I had for him. He never seemed interested in being in a relationship. I had no good reason to be so iffy about pursuing him. I just was. 

I missed Earth. I missed how uncomplicated the green grass was, how uncomplicated the blue sky was. Space just had this cruel complexity to it that I didn't care for. It was lonely. 

What I missed the most was the complicated ocean. The ocean was always something I loved, it was like another world. I missed that world. It was mine and mine alone, no one could disrupt me when I was out playing in the water's tough waves. The sand in between my toes, the sun beating down on my already dark complexion. I didn't have that. Everything I had consisted of fighting an evil alien race, space goo, and space itself. It was too much space for me.

My thoughts of Earth changed to space and then to my family. My family would love Keith. My abuela would be the first to love him. Let me scratch that thought, she'd be the second, I loved him first.

I was out once with my abuela for a stroll on the beach when she turned me around to where she could look at me with her somber eyes. "Mi nieto, el amor es cruel, pero lo tiene sus maneras." Her smile brought my seven year old self hope. I knew that she was right, that love could be a very bittersweet force, but in the end I'd find the love of my life.

Estoy enamorada con Keith.


	8. Keith’s POV

"Where is Shiro?" At this time it had been awhile since I had walked past a grinning Pidge. I had found Hunk and thought he might have had a clue to where the current leader of Voltron was. 

Pidge, ever since her antsy comment, smirked at every move I would make. It was unsettling for many reasons. She was some sort of stalker I gathered, her room was the farthest from mine. It was also mortifying to learn that I talked in my sleep- I mostly had night terrors. I thought about how she could have just made that up to screw with me. That was a possibility. 

"By now, I would think that Shiro is talking things out with Lotor and Coran. You'd probably find them by the central bay with all the cool Altean control panels." He seemed slightly unsure if he was correct or not. It was better than him not knowing anything. I'd eventually find him. 

"Thanks, Hunk." 

"No problemo." He smiled, happy that he thought he could help me out. "Keith, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure." I didn't mind us exchanging answers to questions. 

"I'm a bit worried about Lance. He really hasn't been acting in character lately. Something has been bothering him, he's been off." He paused to give us time to let the gravity of his words sink in. I became genuinely worried about Hunk and his concern for Lance. He was a good friend to him. 

"What do you mean by off?" I played dumb. 

"He hasn't been himself I guess. He seems to be in haze and taken away by his thoughts all the time. This morning he seemed significantly more himself. He's been acting strange ever since you've been gone and now I think he's coming back, I mean, after beating you up- I don't understand how he can go from moping around for months and then all of the sudden going back to normal when you arrive." He mumbled on. Hunk had a hard time organizing his statements, he was all over the place. Whatever had been going on with Lance had troubled him enough.

"Why are you telling me this?" I tried not to let a blush coat my face. To actually think that Lance wasn't himself while I was gone, it made me hot. There was no need for me to get presumptions about it though, "It's probably nothing at all. I mean, we both are aware that I haven't been here... I really don't know what to say. I'm glad he's better, I genuinely am, but I'm sure it has nothing to do with me." 

He placed his hand on my shoulder, "Why did Lance beat you up like the way he did? I tried asking him, but he wouldn't give me the answer I was looking for."

I was getting tired of everyone interrogating me, "But he did give you an answer?" I became puzzled. 

"I guess so." He shrugged. "Just forget I mentioned anything. I'm thinking out loud to myself really."

I wanted to know what he said, I wanted to know what he was thinking, but I couldn't bring it to myself to ask. Should I follow the old adage of good things come to those who wait or would I dare to go out of my comfort-zone and ask? Asking would make Hunk question, Pidge knew and she was one too many. 

"I appreciate the help, I'm going to find Shiro now." 

I really couldn't analyze why Hunk brought up Lance. It may have been able to bring him closure, but what good would I do- did he expect me to know? I had been gone all this time. I didn't see Lance, that including his emotions and actions. If anything, what Hunk had just told me confused me even more. His thoughts were all over the place, resulting in mine becoming scattered as well. Finding Shiro became my top priority after the scrambled chatting session with Hunk. 

"Oh, Keith, nice to see you. You're all healed up I see." Coran graciously greeted me. He was with Lotor and Shiro. Hunk was right.

"Is this the paladin's life I saved?" Lotor placed both of his hands on his hips while turning his attention over to me.

"I'm actually not a paladin anymore. I work with the Blade of Marmora." I corrected the prince's question. "Yeah, I guess you saved my life."

Lotor laughed, "Well, you are apparently going to help me adjust to things around here. They want me to work with the Blade of Marmora and I was only happy to comply with proper assistance. You'd like the task wouldn't you?" There was something very annoying about him. He had a flamboyant way of speaking. 

Shiro looked me dead in my eyes asking me not to turn this opportunity down, "I guess so, why not?" 

The prince became overjoyed, Shiro and Coran nodded in agreement that Lotor's position with the coalition would be served through the Blade of Marmora. 

Shiro excused himself from the meeting due to another painful migraine and that left Coran, Lotor, and I in the room without anything else needed to be addressed concerning Lotor's position. 

"Keith, why don't you direct Lotor to his new quarters? He'll be staying in the castle while you instruct him about the Blade." Coran smiled as I led Lotor outside of the central bay. 

Lotor studied me as we walked down the castle's many elaborate hallways. He observed my ears, my eyes, and even my teeth. 

"What percentage of Galra are you?" I winced at his question, it was awfully personal for him to ask that.

"I'm not really sure. All I know is that I'm Galra on my mother's side. Everything else is questionable." I didn't know why I was telling him what I did.

"Would you like to know?" His tone changed making me question his motive. 

"You can figure out how much Galra I am? Why do you seem to be so interested?" I was being as blunt as he was.

Lotor stood up tall with his hands behind his back as he walked, "I'm half Galra myself, my previous team was a collection of hybrids too. Never have I heard of a Galra-Human hybrid. Who would have expected someone to travel so far in the galaxy for-" 

I didn't want him to elaborate any further, "You can leave it at that. I don't like talking about my mom." Lotor was strangely respectful of my decision to move the topic off my mother. After a long time of walking around the castle and showing Lotor to his room, I began to ask him questions concerning my heritage. It seemed to break the ice.

"Would they just run a bunch of DNA tests?" I meekly scoffed. 

"Something like that, It's a bit more complicated than human genetics. If you are over a certain percentage you can appear to be full Galra." He waved his hand up and down to emphasize that I wouldn't be able to fully comprehend the process.

What he said made me briefly recall back to when my hand turned purple. I was too into the moment to be terrified of my complexion changing. 

"If I am, let's say that certain percentage, I'd be able to transform or whatever? Could it be on will?" I wanted the answer to be yes, to think of having that skill to blend in and perpetrate Zarkon's forces.

"Precisely." Lotor never expressed emotion other than indifference with the conversation we were having. He had a very cold demeanor and I just pushed that aside.

The prince informed me on Galran characteristics and the history of his, could I say our, people. In truth, I was extremely fascinated. I felt like I was discovering a lot about myself. To think that only a serious of test could lead back to my historical background. I wondered if I could even find my mom with this information.

Lotor guided me in the steps to figure out what my DNA rawly consisted of. The testing took a few hours and the process was painfully long. I had genetic material extracted from my hair and from my saliva. Some tests seemed so out of the blue while others consisted of thick needles penetrating my skin. It was not an enjoyable experience.

After all those hours of testing, all I could do was sit by and wait. Lotor sat me down and told me that the results would be in by tomorrow. A part of me didn't want to know.


	9. Lance’s POV

It seemed like everyone dropped the entire fact that I had hurt Keith on the day of his arrival back. My bruises had finally healed over and my eye went back to normal. The only thing that that didn't heal completely was the cut Keith gave me that resided over my lip. The best it could do was turn into a faint scar. Oh hey, a souvenir. 

Keith had been spending an awful lot of time with Lotor. I never had the opportunity to meet the prince. I never had the opportunity to see Keith. Fine by me. Whatever. 

"What's up with his long white hair anyway? He's an Allura wannabe. That freak can't be trusted. He went out of his way to defy his father just to trick us. Next thing you know the lions will be gone and we'll all be dead." I could hear the annoyance in my voice, I didn't like the prince's vibes he gave off one bit. 

"I think someone is jealous." Pidge twirled around in an Altean office chair

"Oh, quiznack, I'm jealous that Keith gets to spend time with that purple freak's perfect skin. I wonder if Lotor knows of any advance skincare techniques?" I wasn't going to let the gremlin sneak her way into my mind, though I was very curious about Lotor's complexion. 

"You know Lance, to take your mind off him, I've got some advance memes." Matt waved the closest thing to a smartphone that we had. The screen displayed pictures of all the latest Earth memes. He taunted me as he moved the phone side to side. 

"Hell, yeah! Give me those memes." I lunged over to where he was sitting, tripping over a series of pillows that had blocked my way. I fell flat on my face and crashed into the couch.

"You guys are dorks." Pidge ridiculed. 

"And that is coming from her royal dorkness? We must be pretty dorky then." Matt stuck his tongue out at his little sister. I grinned at Matt's retort.

"I was going to say something, but I think I'll just leave you dweebs to the internet. Matt, don't forget we have that Star Trek marathon and then the Mothman documentary." Every word that slipped out of her mouth made her sound like the biggest nerd. She didn't have a right to call us dorks, yet I knew she'd claim it would take one to know one. 

Matt took his eyes off the phone's screen to look at his younger sister, "I thought you were going to watch the Mothman documentary with Keith?"

"Did you even listen to Lance's rant about Lotor suspiciously joining the coalition all of a sudden? Keith is currently preoccupied." Pidge sounded more agitated than when I was while complaining about Lotor.

Matt gasped, "Too busy for Mothman?!" 

"What the quiznack is a Mothman?" I didn't want to get into the prince apprehending Keith's attention from any of us. From me. 

"You are a blinkard." Pidge rolled her eyes under her glasses.

I nervously laughed, "Jokes on you, I don't even know what a blinkard is."

I knew she was implying that I was stupid. I wasn't technologically inclined like everyone else was and that made me, well, paranoid. I couldn't be as slow as I thought, assuming as much considering the Garrison wasn't easy to get into. Brains and brawn, either one or the other, usually both. I liked to believe that I was well coordinated, but my team made me think otherwise. Pidge was so smart for her age.

Pidge left Matt and I to do meme searching, most of the time was dedicated to us spreading ourselves across the space couch trying to get comfortable. It was probably the most fun and relaxed thing I had done since getting involved with Voltron. It was a very Earth thing to do. Just like typically weekends. 

"I think that's the latest meme." Matt grumbled pointing to the screen, "There isn't as much quality in them as there used to be. It's a fucking pity." 

I rose a brow, "Did Pidge not tell you about the F-word?" I was caught off guard by his language.

"Don't tell me It's illegal to say fuck or something. We are in our late teens, shit I feel oppressed." We both laughed. 

"Just substituted it with quiznack, it's Altean." I winked. 

"Ahhh, It's not cussing if it's in another language." He winked back, bought by the idea, "That's an evolved mind set you have there." 

Matt was a humorous person to be around, but most importantly he was sheerly enjoyable. He'd throw down several puns when no one else would want him to. I was, of course, an exception. Matt and I were the most innovative meme lords of the galaxy. 

"Matt, do you miss doing this at all? Just laying down, without a care in the world. Things have been so quiet around here and it's kinda been nice. We can go out of our way to look up whatever we want- we have access to Earth's browsers."

"Well of course I do, but it's not like we are freshman who have all of high school to explore. Pidge is wasting away her young teenage years up in space defending the universe. She's mature for her age, maybe too mature." He adverted his concern about his sister.

"Pidge likes it up here. She found a place where she belongs." I tried comforting him. She was an asset to Voltron. I never lied.

"When this is all over I hope she can find a place back on Earth. No one really could appreciate her beautiful mind."

"They are all a bunch of quiznacking cowards. They must have felt threatened by her, why else would they do that?" I personally didn't like feeling the least intelligent, but that still wasn't an excuse. "She's like a little sister to us. You're her favorite."

"I quiznacking hope so, I am her brother after all." 

"I know, I know." I brushed it aside. Our conversation became heavy and I preferred the lighthearted goofing off we had been enjoying earlier, "So how are things between you and Allura?"

Matt took his hand behind his head and began to ruffle through his messy hair. His chestnut brown eyes looked fondly at the floor. A pink blush spread across his pale cheeks and then he groaned, "About that..."

"Don't tell me. Actually, tell me everything!" My eyes lit up with anticipation to continue.

He looked back at me and the light in his eyes disappeared, "I think the princess is falling for Lotor."

My heart sank at these words. Lotor not only took Keith away from me, but he was taking Allura away from Matt. I had been getting progressively more lenient with Matt being sweet on Allura. 

"If It's who she wants, then who am I to go against it? She's smart, Allura must have some reason for liking him," He clearly was upset as he got up from laying on the couch, "I'm going to go catch up with Shiro for a bit, I won't take long. If you find anything good to watch on Netflix we can watch that later." He stretched then left. 

I continued to relax in the lounge, but this time only with the company of myself. I thought about going over to the large training room, which had the sky roof. I loved observing the glittering speaks of the universe. It was everything I was protecting. 

The room was quiet, other than the indistinct voices of Lotor and Keith coming from outside. They were walking down the hallway. 

I fucking hated Lotor. 

It had been a week since Keith had been back and I hadn't had the chance to talk with him other than that one night. It was as if he was still working with the Blade of Marmora- which wasn't false. He had been busy with Lotor. 

I heard their clanking footsteps halt. I made an effort to fall off the couch and slide over to the wall to have a better chance to hear them. 

"The results are in, Keith, you have enough Galra genes in your genome." I was confused to what Lotor was talking about, but I was curious beyond belief.

Whatever Keith had mentioned was imperceptible, but there was a long enough delay to where I could tell he did comment on Lotor's statement.

I hoped Keith wasn't letting his Galra heritage get to him.


	10. Keith’s POV

I was too distracted by Lotor that I had forgotten what I had been meaning to ask Shiro. I had been very consumed by all that was occurring around me as a matter of fact. 

I'd been spending a lot of time with the prince, he'd been teaching me how to unlock the supposed Galra genes I had that were hidden and I had been helping him adjust to life as a member of the Blade of Marmora. It was nice to be able to identify with someone so similar but so different from me. We both had our own issues with our parents, I'd like to believe having an evil overlord as a father was difficult.

Training had taken up most of my time. I'd sacrifice meals some days, I'd get little sleep, but it was all worth it in the long run. Lotor and I had made incredible progress working together. We were a pretty decent team.

Lotor had suggested that I catch up on sleep. Once we'll rested, he'd work with me on becoming more blended in with the Blade of Marmora, aka teach me to take on my Galra appearance. I followed his instructions, I had roughly twelve hours of sleep, but the concept of time was different in space than back home. Basically, I had spent half of my day sleeping. 

I woke up to an undesired situation. I thought things would have occurred nice and steady, but my hands had taken on a purple pigment. My heart raced as I ran over towards the mirror to view what I had looked like. 

I was looking a lot more Galra than human. I had been told by Lotor that I'd be able to change on will between states, but this completely disregarded everything he initially had told me. 

I had a cut design of dark purple coming from the sides of my cheekbones, something that made me look more unique from other Galra. My mullet was now a shade of plum with its bottom emulating a vibrant, hot pink. My complexion was a soft shade of lilac.

I was disturbed by how the white in my eyes had become yellow. I brought up my talons as they grazed my face in horror. Through my rounded out, pointed ears, I could hear the panic in my own breath. I didn't even recognize myself. 

I wanted to hide in my room forever. No one in my team knew of my testing and I was unsure of what they'd think of it. Lotor joining the coalition was a suspicious act. I should have considered this to be a possible outcome.

I heard knocking on my door, "Keith, do you have anytime for that Mothman special?" Pidge tempted to lure me out. 

"Not right now, do you have it on recording?" I was looking forwarded to watching it. Pidge was the only person who appreciated conspiracies as well, but I didn't need a Mothman documentary to know he was real. I was kinda in a predicament as well. 

"You sure? It's very unlikely that you of all people would be turning this down." She was doubting my legitimacy. 

"Please send Lotor by." I tried not to whimper. 

"Is he your new crush or something?" She wasn't as smug as her voice would exemplify indicate. Her question faded off into silence, I wasn't in the mood, "I'll get him, geez." 

I huddled up in a corner of my room. I didn't know how to change back and I didn't know if I had the ability to do so. I found the blade that had belonged to my mother and I examined the edge with my Galra fingertip, gently cutting my finger. My finger bleed pink as my eyes began to swell with tears. 

When I finished feeling sorry for myself, I escaped my bedroom. I thought confronting Lotor so soon was a risky move to make- having Pidge request his presence for me was something I couldn't change, but possibly something I could avoid. 

I did my best to maneuver around the castle without having anyone see me. I ended up finding Shiro by himself and I found myself being caught off guard. I quickly moved to hide in a corner to where he couldn't see me. 

Shiro was on his knees, his hands were pulling hard at his hair. His squinted eyes indicated he was pushing through heavy discomfort. This was without a doubt one of the worst headaches he had probably had endured. With having such large ears, I couldn't zone out the screams that were to follow. It seemed like he was going through this pain all on his own. No one was coming to his aid. 

Things had slowed down, we were so close to defeating Zarkon. We all let our guard down and we all thought we deserved a break. Shiro had reached his breaking point. 

I debated on running in there to try and comfort him. He had been taking medication for his migraines. The pills were all scattered and spread across the floor. I thought of picking them up and shoving them all into his mouth to silence his yelping. I had little hope that they'd serve him any purpose with how far gone he'd become.

I knew I couldn't just stand by any longer. I dashed over to him, helping him get back up on his feet. His screams started to subsided. He jerked away from my touch, "Shiro?" I asked to have him be more aware of his surroundings. His replies were merely grumbles, "I need you to tell me your name. Can you do that, Shiro?" 

He got weaker and weaker on his feet, I felt the weight of him as he started to limp over. He began to crush me. He grunted and groaned and moaned. 

"Shiro, please respond!" I held onto the fear that he might pass out, virtually becoming engaged in a coma. In the state he was in, would he even be able to recover? That should have been the least of my concerns. 

He opened his eyes and regained his strength. Shiro made an effort to turn away from me to where he couldn't see what I had become, but he seemed to be stable. The sudden change in his stance, not to mention his cries of agony concluding all of a sudden, was a major turn off. He faced the wall, ignoring my presence in the room. I was genuinely hurt.

"I know that my appearance may be a bit shocking, but you don't need to turn your back on me! What the hell is wrong with you, Shiro?!" I got angry, throwing punches at his back. He didn't even flinch. I almost tore through his shirt. Something was different with him. Something was different with me. I couldn't control my impulsiveness. 

Eventually, Shiro slowly turned his neck to gaze into my eyes. Our eyes both happened to uphold the same yellow, hypnotic glow. It made my stomach twist. His right hand grabbed onto my chin as he pushed me against the wall. He dug my body into a corner. He was stronger than me and I was in Galra form.

Shiro darkly whispered into my ear, "My name? My name is Kuron." 

I was triggered by those words as I felt corruption overtake me. I too had begun to fall into a delirious state where I desired something powerful and almost impossible to obtain. I was locked in a primitive state to where all I craved was quintessence. My eyes went completely yellow and I had become blind.


	11. Lance’s POV

I was alarmed by the screams of Shiro. I had been the only one to hear him as everyone else had been doing their own thing. I found myself being bored and unenthusiastic until the treachery of Shiro's broken voice began to tear at my eardrums. 

Zarkon's forces had been silent ever since Lotor had joined the coalition, leaving Matt and Pidge to binge television series and movies and Hunk to experiment in the kitchen. Keith and Lotor were both busy studying the blade and Coran and Allura were- I couldn't face either of them after my lack of a confession so I didn't exactly know. Shiro, who I had told, had secluded himself from us. The last person to see him was Matt. 

I planned for the worst. I took off my jacket to eliminate any extra, unneeded weight and I grabbed my bayard, which was previously wielded by Keith. I dashed over to where I heard the unsettling noise. Once I had figured out the noise's location, the screams quickly subsided. I made a cautious effort to not get caught, but despite my effort I was. 

I was stunned at the sight I saw. Shiro's and Keith's eyes both widened with unnerving delight at my arrival. Keith was a full blown Galra and Shiro was something taken out of from a nightmare. Their full. yellow eyes spoke volumes. It was an echoing warning.

Shiro lunged at me, attempting to hit me with his Galra robotic arm. It lit up a magenta color as it reached out towards my face. I barely dodged the attack. Keith stood by, watching our movements. I was distracted by his presence, he seemed so calm and unbothered. Shiro was successful in knocking me down to the ground because of my lack of concentration. I tried worming my way through under his large arms, but he wouldn't let me. A grin formed on his face. 

I managed to obtain my bayard. I took a shot at him and he slightly retreated back giving me enough time to get on my feet. I became frantic and began backing up into the wall, resulting in there being no possible escape route. Shiro had the upper ground. 

He began strutting towards me, generating power in his grasp. I squinted my eyes and dropped my weapon, accepting my fate. I was well aware I couldn't do anything. 

Everything was quiet. Not one of us spoke a meager word, our movements defined the sound in the room. I was in shock throughout the brief, pathetic battle. I couldn't have been so tough on myself, I didn't know. My ignorance got the best of me and in the end it would result in my demise. It wasn't a new lesson that needed to be learned. I kept on making mistakes. It was inevitable.

I opened up one of my eyes after a long period of flinching defensively and after had hearing a clash in the background. Keith had turned the tables, being on top of Shiro. He pounced on him and soullessly attacked him with all his might. Keith mustered up the strength to tear apart his Galra appendage. Mechanical pieces glistened as he chewed them off. His robotic arm was a central hub for quintessence. 

I watched Keith. I was petrified and unable to move. Shiro's arm wasn't the only thing he planned on destroying. To save my stomach, I avoided further eye contact with what the scene had become. I wish my ears could have sounded out the noise of bones breaking and clawing. Shiro didn't make one peep during his death. To have thought that Keith had it in him. Was it really Keith? 

The Galra pushed aside the hollow shell that had once been the paladin of the black lion. It was a trade off. I had to worry about one of the vicious fighters opposed to two. I had better odds this way. It hurt me to consider that these were my friends and how I didn't treat the situation as such. What I saw in front of me were monsters. I was doing what I had to to save my life.

Whatever was in front of me was an animal. It stood and observed me during my fight with Shiro and now it stood and watched me in my state of repugnance. It crawled up to me to get a closer view. I dared not touch it until I saw something almost computer like in the side of its neck.

It seemed that there had been a vial of a golden substance injected into him. There was no logically possible way to be able to rip it out without the chance of ending up like Shiro. 

Something had been off about Shiro when he returned. He had a more pushy personality that got on my nerves. The real Shiro had died a long time ago. I was the only one willing to accept that fact so quickly. 

I began to imitate Keith's actions in order to establish trust. We gradually ended up eye to eye, I breathed heavily from the anxiety I had accumulated from the experience. He took his hand and gently brushed it against my face. I became flustered at the move, I gladly played along. I saw a more human attribute to him.

He pulled me in closer as he adjusted his position. Keith had me sit on his lap, wrapping his arms around my chest. A smile almost formed on the hypnotized Galra's face. We both felt each other's warmth and I knew that not even Keith could ignore that fact. 

Keith slid his arms down my sides down until he reached my hips. I had a hard time continuing with the way things were heating up, but I had no choice to comply if I wanted to live. I wasn't complaining though. This was setting my feelings for Keith in concrete and I was thoroughly enjoying it. 

He got under the rim of my blue shirt, his arms explored across the back of my body. He decided that that wasn't enough. Keith caressed his way back down and slowly lifted up my shirt over my head. I did the rest for him, by throwing it across the room. My face continued to burn. 

He took his hands off of my body, placing one back onto my face. He moved it down to my lips as if he were debating on engaging his lips with mine. He felt the scar he accidentally gave me during that one fight. His hands then locked on the sides of my face. I made an effort to wrap my arms around his neck- so that I could extract the drive. He dove in. He kissed me. I closed my eyes and fell in deep. My arms became limp, I was powerless.

I regained strength in my arms. I completely disregarded my mission and began tugging at his hair, I pulled him in closer. Keith's mullet was so soft and thick, I envied how well he took care of it. I hated how well it looked on him. 

The kiss was hot and passionate, I felt as if I was being hypnotized by him. I didn't want the moment to end, but soon I was going to have to gasp for air. 

I snapped back into reality and I painfully removed what had initiated Keith's Galra state. He yelped as I got off him. He did his best to sit upward, but he slowly found his way back onto the floor. His purple skin quickly changed back to his paler color, his ears decreased in size, and his eyes changed back to the captivating purple they had once been. Keith now resembled a human. 

I looked down upon his exhausted, pretty face, by this time I had put my shirt back on. I went down onto my knees and tilted up his head slightly, kissing him on his forehead. I then put my lust aside and picked him up.

I cradled him in my arms back to his room to rest.


	12. Keith’s POV

I woke up with a horrible pain in my neck, my first thought was that I had slept on my neck funny. My head felt clouded initiating my curiousity to check the time. I ended up rolling over to view the alarm clock that I had in my room, doing my best to keep my neck still. I didn't believe I was reading the time correctly due to the clock indicating that I had been asleep for roughly two days. I was humored. Two days worth of sleep was probably not what Lotor intended on me getting. 

I felt the back of my neck and I rubbed it slightly. The testing Lotor had done to see what percentage of Galra I was mainly consisted of testing on my neck area. He tried explaining to me why it was the best place to draw blood and such. I didn't have much of an incentive to argue so I kept quiet. It was probably a combination of the testing and the sleep I had gotten, that would explain why it hurt so much.

I heard a knock on my door, "Come in?" I questioned as I continued to rub my neck. 

"Hey, buddy. How are you feeling?" Lance smiled brightly coming in with a tray of food.

"Uh, ok I guess. My neck hurts. What's the food for?" I looked at the tray. I was surprised to see that there wasn't any space goo. 

He set the tray on the corner of my bed, "To help you get back on your feet. Don't worry I didn't poison it, Hunk made it." His hands were in the pockets of his jackets. 

"Thanks." I was confused to why I was being treated to breakfast-in-bed.

He made the move to sit next to me on the bed. He seemed troubled by something- we all did. It was a recurring theme throughout defending the universe. 

"Do you remember anything that happened yesterday?" Lance got flustered, but his disposition was quickly morphed into something stern and grim. 

I closed my eyes and placed my right palm to my forehead. I gently shook my head and reopened my eyes, "I've been asleep for two days. I don't even remember any of my dreams," I was undoubtedly confused. 

He looked at me with his tense blue eyes, "You must not remember killing Shiro then," The atmosphere in the room took an one hundred and eighty degree turn. 

"Wha-" A guilt of energy filled my body. I brought my hands over my mouth as I gasped until I thought of how unrealistic the probability was, "This is nothing to joke about, Lance. You coming in with some fancy food on a tray does not give you the right to throw down this bullshit. What the hell is wrong with you?" 

He could tell I was angry and he feed off what I was giving him, "You really don't remember do you?! You don't remember any of it!" He raised his voice at me and then stormed off. 

I threw away the food and ran down to where everyone would be congregated if Lance's news wasn't some fabrication. He was telling the truth. 

Pidge was lying on Matt's shoulder. They were hugging and comforting each other at his loss. Hunk was deep in thought, it looked like he might have been praying to his God. Allura and Coran exchanged somber glances. Lance was in the corner of the room, his arms crossed, emulating something I might have done in this situation. A single tear fell from his left eye as he looked away from me. 

"I don't remember anything!" I yelled. My eyes tightened as I squinted them. A river began to ooze down my cheeks. I fell onto the floor. 

Lance walked down over to me, bitting his lip. He kept it from trembling as a tooth fit into his scar, "I know you don't remember and besides it isn't your fault," He breathed. 

There was so much hostility and emotion in the room. We were all mourning. 

"Lance is right, Lotor is responsible for his passing. He has been injecting quintessence into your bloodstream to have you show off the characteristics of a Galra. He has tricked you into believing he was running blood tests. In the state you were in you craved more and more of the powerfully addictive substance. Shiro's robotic arm was full of it." Allura painfully recited all the details I seemed to not know about.

"Are you saying that I turned Galra and that I murdered him for the quintessence in his prosthetic?!" It was too hard to take in and believe. I had no memory of the event.

"That's exactly what she's saying." Pidge buried her head into Matt's chest. She couldn't help but be sarcastic even at a moment such as this. Matt did his best to comfort his little sister, but we all knew of the struggles they endured together. 

"Guys, it was never the real Shiro in the first place. Lotor was doing us a favor," Lance invaded on the conversation, "He was the only successful clone in Operation Kuron. It was enacted sometime when Shiro was captured after we lost him. They accidentally killed him during one of their tests. They were trying to manipulate human genes and Galra genes into one specimen. They took what left over genetic material from Shiro and they threw in some Galra genes along with an upgraded arm to make the clone that Keith killed. He's been dead." Lance sternly added. He had apparently been interrogating Lotor all night. The prince finally caved in with this knowledge. Lance had granted his freedom in exchange with the exception of a few more favors being delivered to the coalition. 

We were all impressed with what Lance had done, but all extremely curious of what the interrogation process consisted of. Our curiosity was pushed aside. It was a lot to take in that we had been living with a fake. Zarkon had been watching us the whole time.

"What was Lotor trying to do with me?" I said before thinking. The words just spilled out. 

"Lotor was trying to do something his father couldn't. You are an actual hybrid- he was trying to enhance you." Lance was unstrung, "He was mainly destroying the clone. He's on our side in this war. He didn't want his father or Hagar getting anymore intel than he already was. Hagar has been watching us through him. By you expressing your Galra genes you'd be able to kill him."

Hunk stood up and in doing so we all directed our attention towards him, "Let's have a memorial service for Shiro. It's the least we can do to honor him. None of us saw this coming." Tears flew off his face as he clenched up his fists.

Allura walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "I think that's an excellent idea." She tried smiling, but it didn't alter the gravity of the situation like she had hoped. 

In Altea, pink is worn to honor fallen warriors. Allura had selected her paladin armor to be pink. That day we all wore that color to honor what Shiro had did- we focused on the good of it all. 

Shiro was there to guide us and to lead us. He was like a brother to me and to others like a father figure. His death symbolized something. You can never truly accomplish anything without great sacrifice. It hurt knowing it was him and that he was a prisoner during his death. 

The things we had heard of about the painful procedures that the prisoners of the Galra underwent. The torture they were subjected to was rumored to be beyond horrifying. There had been talk that limbs were removed and then were forcibly healed, only to have the process repeated over and over. Eyeballs were gouged out of their sockets. Blades would draw haunting scars across bodies. Robotic limbs would replace what couldn't be artificially healed. To have thought that Shiro endured that a second and last time. Shiro endured it alone. It was haunting.

There was nothing to bury or cremate other than a picture we had of him. We folded the picture up and put it in an urn. We all took turns placing an item in the urn that made us think of Shiro. I put in my black fingerless gloves that he had given to me way back when at the Garrison.

We laid down delicate and rare flowers by the urn along with our tears.


	13. Lance’s POV

"And that's how we defeat my father." Lotor grasped tightly onto the cell bars of where we were holding him. His head tried peering through to get a better look at me. He had devised a strategy for each and every requirement I had asked him to fulfill. 

"I don't know if I should believe you." I crossed my arms with a raised brow being my companion. 

"I'm giving you the three answers you've wanted, disregarding the entire Galra Keith and Operation Kuron ordeal. I told you how to eliminate alternative realities from being open, thus no more quintessence, the location of Mr. Holt, and the location of where I believe Keith's mother is." He scoffed, "Such a silly human to have asked for only that."

"Oh, shut your quiznack. I'm not the one behind bars so I'd be careful with what you say." My hands were now on my hips and I tilted my head up high. I was blocking out the hater Lotor was, "Enjoy the solitude, I have to report to my team what planet we are going to to find Pidge's and Matt's dad." I shot him with a finger bang. 

There was more to our deal than let on. My team, in agreement, knew that Lotor would be set free if he was honest, but the prince wasn't so easily convinced. What he wanted was something that would ruin my chances of ever getting back on Earth. I had agreed to become a mercenary sharp shooter that would eliminate his partners in crime that betrayed him. It would take years to first find them, let alone kill them. He knew they were heading to a dimension where time changes drastically. A few days where they were would be years on Earth. They decided to wait out the fall of the Galra empire. 

I complied with Lotor's terms for my friends and for the betterment of the universe. I wasn't happy, but I understood our agreement. 

In this reality, I'd never end up with Keith. Slav could vouch for me, not that I'd want him to. There was just too much space between us. Keith had built up some indestructible wall that I couldn't manage to look over. I was letting him free, but I wanted to have him so badly.

I cried the most that night when I made that deal. I was letting everyone get back together with their family to the expense of seeing mine. I probably missed Earth the most. That's why Lotor made the deal in the first place, there was more incentive for him to keep me up in space and miserable. He wanted revenge, I wanted to go home. One wins and one loses. I'm the loser in this game while everyone benefits from me. 

I went to where I found Pidge and Keith watching a weird Mothman documentary. It was the movie they had talked about earlier. 

I leaned in between them, "When's the movie going to be over?" 

They both jumped. It wasn't like what they were watching was scary, they were just neurotic people.

"We have twenty more minutes, care to join and watch the big reveal?" Keith invited me to sit down and watch some television program that was almost over. It also wasn't something I was interested in. I said yes. 

I sat next to Pidge, she was in the middle of Keith and I. It was disappointing. 

When the show finally ended, I was relived that it was over. I could understand if they were watching an alien documentary- Aliens existed and our view of them on Earth is drastically different from what they actually are. But Mothman of all things? 

Keith reestablished his bond with the black lion, resuming the title as our leader. Everything concerning the Blade of Marmora had been a waste of time, due to Lotor and his ingenious plan to turn Keith full Galra. We were going to enact my three step plan; find Mr. Holt, defeat Zarkon, and find Keith's mother. Little did they know of my knowledge. I couldn't bare to tell them what I had done. 

Matt flew in the green lion with Pidge as we headed over to the distant planet where Mr. Holt was said to be. I slipped the coordinates over to Pidge. She believed that she had the leave on his location. 

The people of the planet we had gone to had been oppressed by the Galra from hundreds of years. They were jubilant and they were ecstatic at the arrival of Voltron, heroes who would deliver peace and hope. It felt good knowing I was helping out two parties. 

Hunk and Allura stayed in the village offering medical and food supplies, while Matt, Pidge, Keith, and I headed over to a beautiful ancient cave. The cave had been the center of technology of these people. We were give two tour guides. 

One of the tour guides eyed Keith in a way that made me burn with envy. He had no right to look at him like that, especially without Keith's knowledge. 

The tour guide approached him, "Thank you for coming and helping out my people. We've been in need of assistance and we never thought Voltron would stop by and help our mediocre civilization." The guide had an accent. 

"If anything, you should be thanking the green paladin for sending us here on a rescue mission. She's looking for her father, by any chance have you seen him?" Keith humbly pushed the compliment over onto Pidge. 

Matt took out a picture of their father to show to the guide. 

"He's been helping us improve our technology as well as obtain help by sending out distress signals. He sent one out in hopes of calling Voltron, but instead the Galra happened to interfere. Our village was rampaged!" The tour guide was displeased with what they were saying, they put their hand on Keith's shoulder in gratitude. 

We all had made it to a closed off rock formation. It was deemed the cave. "I don't see an entrance?" Pidge questioned looking around, losing faith that her father was here. 

"What you see isn't always what you get." The other tour guide added, putting their arm through the rock. They walked on through and everyone else followed. It was just the tour guide without a concept of manners and myself. 

I eyed them, "My name is Loverboy Lance McClain and I'll whoop your ass if you think about looking at my Mothman obsessed, mullet haired, Texan, emo boyfriend one more damn time, you got that amigo?" I was up in his face. My jealousy got the best of me, but it wasn't heard from the other paladins or Matt so I could live with what I had done. The tour guide became embarrassed and let me in through the cave first. 

The cave was decked out with so many different types of technological elements. It was advanced for the people they were, that probably being due to the brilliance of Mr. Holt and his effort.

"Dad!" Pidge and Matt both ran up to their father as their shared a long overdue hug. 

"Where's your mother, Katie?" He became frantic at the thought of his wife not being there. He assumed just as much, he had no idea that Pidge was up in space.

"Mom is back on Earth. She doesn't know that we are alive." The happiness of the reunion faded away, but we all knew that it was better to have her be on Earth than lost somewhere up in space. 

Before we could leave, we needed to help out the planet's people. Pidge and Matt assisted their father with a few final details concerning some system Mr. Holt had been working on, but couldn't fully figure out. It was a communicator that could effectively send out distress calls without it being picked up by Galra satellites. I wasn't surprised when it only took roughly ten minutes to get it up and running- they were such a genius family.

The tour guides brought us back down to the village where we all happily offered aid. We repaired some houses, gave them some clothes, but most importantly they gained us as trusted allies. We promised to protect their civilization from harms way. It was a successful day for Voltron and a victory for me to have one of three things checked off of what needed to be done before heading home- that is if I could go back home. 

As we were about to make our departure, we were given gifts. Allura was flattered by the idea, but she said that it wouldn't have been right. They continue to insist that we accept their gifts and so all we could do was obliged. I was never opposed to the idea to begin with.

Everyone received something unique that emulated the civilization's culture. To my surprise, my gifter was the tour guide from earlier that I had harassed. They came up to me with a simple box-like contraption. "Inside this container is a token that should only be given to the person you love and intend on spending the rest of your life with. Give this to the boy you court." They bowed as I cheerily accepted the box. 

I looked over to where Keith was. He was given the same gift box as I and with that he had begun to redden violently. 

How could I regret what I had done?


	14. Keith’s POV

When back at my room, I laid the trinket down next to me on my bed. I was dumbfounded that the people we had encountered could see through my feelings. Never once did I indicate that I liked Lance, yet they figured it out when not even my team of brilliant minds could do so.

I knew that this was a lie. Hiding my sexual orientation was like Pidge pretending to be a boy, we all could see through it. I didn't need a big coming out party, it was unnecessary and it would just make me feel uncomfortable. It was important only for Lance to know.

I held onto the box, gently shaking it while bringing it up to my ear. It jingled. I gathered it was some piece of jewelry. I sat it onto the floor and quickly slid the container under my bed as my heartbeat began to accelerate, "Shit, I have to tell him soon." I mumbled quietly to myself. I knew no one could hear me, but it was important for me to say these words out loud. I was emphasizing the severity of which it needed to be done. I'd give him the box during the confession. 

The way our relationship was was like a piece of clay. You could mold it and fold it, but you could also easily cut it with a knife. My feelings just reached a point where I couldn't not be around him- I was making myself miserable and crazy. I was willing to take the chance of rejection. A first in my life.

Allura and Coran were given some anonymous leads that gave us a significant advantage in this war. We knew how to close rifts in space. Zarkon's forces would slowly crumble and his efforts in search of quintessence would decimate. There would be nothing left of him. The empire itself would be hard to take down, but Zarkon couldn't advance any further. We'd be back home in a matter of months. It seemed so soon. If I didn't act now, I'd never have the chance again to ask Lance out. If he was repulsed, then he'd just have to endure me for that much longer. 

The Holts were up, hastily beginning to devise and solve calculations concerning the preciseness of the rifts. Hunk, being a mechanic, followed their orders to build and repair any overused machinery. They were all hard at work. Even for the Altean technology that was being used, I was surprised at how it held up.

"It's crazy to think of how fair we've come. Zarkon is almost defeated, we will all be able to return home." I tried to be uplifting, but all I managed to do was contain some form of bitterness in my tone. There was nothing left for me on Earth, but up in space I was the leader of Voltron. This is of course being under devastating circumstances. I'm the runner up for when everything goes straight to hell, I'm neither a runner up on Earth nor straight. Anywhere.

"This is true," Allura nodded in agreement as she disregarded how unsure I was of my future back home. "I'm so proud of the work we've accomplished. You all have made great sacrifices to defend others and those you love, but we shouldn't let our guard down so soon. We still have a lot to get done before it's over." Her hands glued onto her hips. A cheerful smile formed with glittering eyes of hope. I wish I could be that positive in such a joyful setting, but my mind inhibited me from doing so.

All I could seem to think about was quiznacking Lance shirtless and Shiro's death. Disregarding Lance, I felt like I was taking all the credit from Shiro by being the leader. I didn't deserve the title that was given to me. It's all I had to hold onto. I left the Blade of Marmora- we were so close to defeating Zarkon anyways. 

It was as if Shiro was only in the depths of our minds, a subtle memory we'd hold onto questioning if we were making him up or not. Voltron was one of those long dreams you had a hard time waking up from. It was enjoyable in few circumstances, but in entirety it was a suspenseful nightmare. I'd rather have it than be bored in my father's shed alone. They've all grown on me.

"Could we take a break soon? I'll make us all something good to eat. It can be like a pre-celebratory lunch!" Hunk drew his arm across his sweaty forehead. The Holt's and him had been hard at work, I couldn't argue that lunch sounded like a good idea. 

"When we get back home, you need to drop out of the Garrison and go to cooking school. You are a better cook than a mechanic and you are a stellar mechanic." Pidge smiled, her computer on her lap. She memorized every key enabling her the ability to type up digits while looking straight at him. 

"Aww, thanks Pidge." He was genuinely touched by the compliment. Hunk watched Allura to see if it was alright if we could all take a break. Even though I was the leader, he sought out a response from the princess. She then looked over at me, passing on the baton of approval. 

I responded to Hunk with these words, "It's alright with me, we do have a set mission though. The sooner we can figure out these calculations the sooner we can take down Zarkon and his forces." I'm sure Shiro would have said the same thing. He thought it was important to balance out work and relaxation. It was like yin and yang of Taoism, equilibrium being a central belief. I found religion to be interesting. 

"Where's Lance? I haven't seen him at all today." Hunk looked around to see if maybe he was in the room. 

"He might be down with Lotor again?" I proposed this question. He'd been a natural with annoying the prince. It seemed to run through his blood. "Wherever he is I'll find him, I've been meaning to talk with him anyways."

They all exchanged nervous glances. It had seemed to be a reoccurring theme, these weary looks that only prophesied danger ahead and or possible regret. Guys, I'm picking up on your mannerisms, I won't dare to be careful. That's not what life is. 

"Be careful, Keith." Hunk called out. 

No thank you, I'm finally sick of always being on edge. 

I trudged down the stairs to where I thought Lance might be. He wasn't conversing with Lotor, the prince just sat in the corner of the rather nice containment facility. 

"Thank the ancients, it's not the blue paladin." He sighed, his eyes gazing upwards as if he were beyond thankful. "You know, he's not your typical human." He smirked. 

"What are you getting off at?" Lotor was smart and spewed very attractive words. If he wanted to, he'd engage anyone in on a chatting session. There were perks for being charismatic and it had seemed Lance burnt him out. He no longer tried to remain silent, he just gave in blabbing away.

Lotor spat on the floor, "I have never apologized for my actions before in my life, now is not a time either, but I do know where Galra lineage takes you. Lance is going to take you to your mother once everything with my father's empire breaks apart into tiny, crushable fragments. Don't ask me why I gave him this knowledge, that's in between you and him." That was a thought to have been told, especially by someone who injected you with a mind controlling substance that made you kill off your leader, rather a clone. "He was the one to find you with Shiro in your transformed state. You saved his life and in turn he returned the favor. Lance carried you back to your room." 

I could see he wanted to further elaborate, but I refused to let him, "You need to slow down there. I don't know what you are trying to tell me, and I for sure don't know why, but you can just stop there, Lotor. Where is Lance?" My voice fell as I narrowed my eyes with distaste. I wanted what he told me to be true. That I was heroic and saved Lance, that he carried me. How could I believe him though?- Not only was he the prince of Galra, but he was also the prince of deceit even if he was on our side.

He chuckled, "It humors me that you believe he'd be down here first. Thank you for the company, but I'll send you off now. You have satisfied my entertainment needs. I'd try that training area of yours with the pretty skylights."


	15. Lance’s POV

I found the training room to be a good place to reflect. I wasn't being punished nor was I sent there for time out, It was just peaceful. My little escape from what my reality had become. No one's swords were clashing against each other, even though the room was designed for that purpose. It was just the quiet stars and me. Compared to everything I was so small. My talents weren't needed for what had to have been addressed. I did my job with being able to present information I could only give away. This was my break, my vacation, my solitude. 

I laid on my back with my arms crossed, they acted as a pillow for my head. I was dead in the center where the best view was. Stargazing on the ship brought back my recollection of lying on Earth's green dewy grass surrounded by an untainted galaxy that had never once known a day of light pollution. Your clothes, once you had stood up, were in the slightest bit soggy, but you would be too caught up in the beauty of your surroundings to seem to mind. I had a special hill back home where the stars were just as bright as the fireflies that were captured. My cousins and I would release the panicked little insects out into the atmosphere together, exchanging their freedom for sparklers. We'd run for what seemed minutes, but was hours on end. I cherished holding onto that memory. The memory quickly became bittersweet, to think about how I'd never get to advance on that short story. Even when Voltron would no longer be needed I'd be out in space, I'd be killing. 

I closed my eyes, almost in a manner so I could drift away in sleep and never wake up again. I slowed down my breathing, letting my tense muscles relax. What I was dwelling on couldn't be changed at the moment. I could only hold onto the slight possibility that what Lotor had promised me was lies, but after finding Mr. Holt it seemed like he had nothing else to say but the truth. 

I wished I didn't regret making the deal. It was a selfless act. I should be proud, yet all I could do was despise my decision. I would have saved the universe and I would have brought two families back together. If I'd ever known what a hero was, I'd be there gracing and twirling on the word in the dictionary. I wondered if heroes cried.

"Lance?" My name echoed throughout the room. I could tell it was Keith calling out to me, he had a very distinct voice.

"Over here!" I yelled in reply. I didn't stand up to where he'd have a better chance of finding me. The floor had grown to become comfortable and I had grown to become too lazy to stand up. I was slowly sinking into the floor. I wish it were quicksand. 

Keith eventually found me and he made sure to roll his pretty violet eyes, "Why do you like laying on the floor so much?" I had done this several times before. It had took Keith awhile for him to realize my affinity with the stars.

I laughed, leaning upwards. I now sat in a criss-cross applesauce position, like that of a preschooler. I made an effort to uphold good posture, "To get a better view of the stars, of course, it's not that often you get to see such a view like this." What I said was sarcastic. We were in space. You always saw damn stars. "Why do you like standing so much?" I teased, gesturing him to sit down.

He smiled as he made his way beside me. Keith did everything in his power to hide the box that was given to us on the one planet, clearly he failed. I knew what this was leading up to. I was excited. 

Keith looked down at the floor. The fact that he was sitting adjacent to me indicated how skittish he must have felt concerning the lack of eye contact. He wanted to say something, but his lips wouldn't budge open. He decided to take things carefully and I respected him for that. I wanted to watch and see how things progressed without me being the one to guide the conversation. I was guilty of that way too often. I did all the talking.

"When I was, you know, with Shiro and everything-" He mumbled terribly and his eyes flickered in a hundred different directions as if his eyes were following a drunk fly. "Did I ever hurt you?" He became still along with everything else in the room other than my raging heart beat. It could have been his. 

"No. I'd probably be dead if you didn't kill Shiro." I looked off, I didn't know if we could both even be capable of making eye contact with the way things were building up. 

"Did he attack you?" He gulped. 

"Yeah, he did, the clone had some wicked glowing eyes. I was scared to death you'd come up and assault me too. Not even my good looks could save me." I laughed to lighten up the mood, but I didn't realize how serious he was being. "Keith, I want you to stop worrying about that day. What happened happened and I'm kinda glad it did. Who knows when we'd figure out that the Shiro we were with was a clone? I feel like for some reason you are blaming yourself for something that isn't your fault or in your control. Lotor is manipulative, trust me. Keith, you didn't hurt me. Push it aside and let's move on."

"Who would have thought you actually have some pretty decent things to say in that thick head of yours." The corners of his lips slid up into a joyful grin. I adored the simplicity of his smiles, they were one of his most attractive attributes. 

His eyes though.

"Every once in a while I like to throw out an intellectual thing or two. I can't be the total package all the time, now can I?" I got Keith to laugh at this.

I fell back onto the floor, my company imitating my action. We both took a few minutes out of our time to appreciate the vastness of this world. I felt like the divide between us was slowly coming down. If I had known that it wasn't me I would have done things differently. I had power in eliminating the space of between us, but it was Keith refusing to let me in this whole time. The walls were tumbling as every second flew by. 

"Lance, I have something to give you." He reached over towards the small box and grabbed it. We both knew that this would require us to sit up so we made up ourselves in a chair like placement. 

My heart raced, it roared. There was no reason for me to be so nervous and so overwhelmed with ecstasy. I liked Keith and this was his way of returning affections, but it felt wrong. 

"I can't."

My words were like a bullet being shoved down in his throat while I didn't even hear the gun go off. I was aware of the courage it took for him to admit his feelings, but I didn't want him to. It wasn't right. 

I got up and walked away calmly. All we could hear was the squeakiness Of my shoes as I slowly placed each foot in front of the other. It was always me storming off in the end. Keith stood and watched me as I left. He started to bundle up an emotion I didn't want to be credited for creating. It tore at the heart, it was acidic. Once the door closed behind me, I ran with colossal velocity. I slid down the halls, I even tripped a couple times, so I could quickly make it to my room. 

I'll leave it at that for now.


	16. Keith’s POV

With Lance leaving, I did everything I could do to build that wall back up again. I had found myself deep in infatuation for years for this guy and when all the signs I had read pointed towards yes, possibly, I had misread them all and they were pointing towards no. I was too oblivious to see that fact. 

I dropped the box and I dropped into my knees. I did my best not to let out a hurricane of emotions, but I couldn't contain it anymore. Any longer. I was far past my breaking point. I had no tub of ice cream or a silly chick flic to watch. It wasn't like we ever dated, it wasn't like we had just broken up. This was the sheer sensation of rejection. He ran off before I could even speak my mind, before I could tell him how much he meant to me. 

He was like my mother. He was like everyone I had ever met in my life. This was worse. I had let him in and he came and crushed me. Our relationship was a piece of clay. It wasn't molded into anything different, Lance took a damn knife and cut it in half. He cut it deep and it bleed out to death. My tears are the clay's blood. 

I weeped in shock. I never thought that it would have hurt so much, I thought I would have been able to move on with my life. That this was a phase that would pass. I should have known better, this kind of feeling isn't so easily discarded. I felt so helpless as I rolled into a ball of my own tears. I could tell that my face was red hot, I still liked him. What kind of logic even was this? They call them crushes because they crush you after all. I dried my tears, I got up cursing under my breathe, and tried to mend my broken heart back together. 

I ran my fingertips across the edge of the door while attempting to make an exit. The training room was a central hub for upsetting flashbacks, I always felt denied by Lance in that room. I didn't know why I thought it would change. You'd imagine how much more surprised I was when it did. I couldn't even manage to leave before-

"Hey, why are you leaving?" Lance came back with a smile on his face. This time he held onto a box identical to the one he neglected to accept. 

"Oh my g-" Tears began to flush out the heart break. My face was pink from the heavy crying and from all the blushing, Lance's face happened to emulate a similar color. He cautiously took me into his arms. 

"Why are you crying, Keith, you just don't know what to do without me, don't you?" An attractive smile spread across his saccharine face. 

"You bastard." I couldn't help but giggle. Me. Giggling. I was that giddy. 

We both laughed as he took my hand over to the edge of the training room. All of space looked down on us as we both sat down, starry eyed. There was this sensation of peace that was brought over me. I was almost numbed by the shifting of my emotions. I had never been so bipolar before. I had never been so in love.

A tear fell down my cheek. My face began to burn as he wiped it away caressing me in the process. Lance looked down at the box that he had been given by the villager, not by me. I was taken aback when he opened it. Inside was a simple jeweled necklace. The gem was as blue as his eyes. The small jewel was in the shape of a tear drop. The chain was brown and rope like.

He picked the necklace up, and unclipped it. He put it around my neck on the last attachment and clipped it back on, "May this be the last tear that you ever wear, Keith Kogane." 

I smiled stupidly, opening the box that I was to give Lance. The gem was a similar size, but the color was ruby red and it was a circle cut. The rope was the same. "Lance McClain, may you always be like a circle. Be limitless and an optimist in every troubling situation we face." I placed it over his neck. 

We both made sure to point out how our necklaces were the colors of our previous lions. Later, I admitted to the fact that what I had to say was not nearly as witty as what Lance had come up with, but I meant every word I said. I would listen to Lance. No more tears, at least out of sadness. That made him smile. 

He held my hand as I leaned against his shoulder, "Why didn't we let this happen sooner?" He laughed with this sense of relief. That we had accomplished something. We did.

We both knew why. I wouldn't let him in, Lance tried pushing the fact that he was bisexual away, we had a universe to defend, and a multitude of other reasons. Everything in the end happened to work itself out. 

"Keith, I know we both like each other... a lot, but we shouldn't rush things. We only have a few months to enjoy-" he broke hands with me and pulled back his hair. He was about to mention something that seemed to be of importance, but I wasn't having it. 

"What the quiznack are you talking about?" I reached out to grab both of his hands. "Do you have any idea how long I've liked you for? This isn't rushing things. The only thing that could possibly be new is that we've both never dating a guy before." I laughed, "I've never even dated. Hell, I've never even kissed anyone." I widened my eyes at the realization. To have thought of all the girls Lance had kissed. To think of how I'd never been in a romantic relationship until now. Lance would be so underwhelmed by me. 

"Keith, shut your quiznack." He saw the worry in my eye and made sure to reiterate what he had said back in our early days of defending the universe. The pressure was taken off my insecurities and was put on Lance's foolishness. 

He gently held onto my chin and slowly brought his mouth up to my ear, "Can I kiss you?" He whispered asking for my consent. He took his face away. I blushed madly, bobbing my head up and down. Lance almost rolled his eyes, before he narrowed them. 

He took off his jacket and then began to take off mine. So much for taking things slow, holy shit. As he began to undress, his jacket caught onto his shirt slightly revealing his chiseled stomach. He set his coat to his side as he began to carefully take off my coat. Throughout this he portrayed this undeniably prepossessing manner. It made me want to choke, in a good way, of course. 

I expected for us to be caught in a steamy make out scene, us stripped down and butt naked. The room was getting hot, but Lance for some reason knew exactly how to cool it down. He put his jacket on me instead of continuing to strip. In all seriousness, I was not ready to jump so fast onto that base. I wasn't even sure which base it was.

Lance had taken my coat off so he could give me his. It was like the equivalent of being given a varsity jacket. It smelt so much like him; ego and class clown. I never wanted to wear my red, cropped jacket again. 

Once I became swallowed by Lance's coat, he leaned in. Our first kiss. I had never been kissed before and I didn't know what to do. I found myself closing my eyes and surrendering. Our lips finally engaged and brushed against each other. He began to taste me and I lost all control of my body. I fluttered. I spiraled. I wrapped myself around him and dreamed of never letting go. 

We both fell asleep in each other's arms and when I woke up he was gone. I thought to myself that it might have been a dream, the best dream I had ever had. The night terrors had finally subsided. When in this second of doubt, I looked down at my necklace and I knew that everything was real.

I rubbed the crystal as it reassured me to never cry another tear out of guilt, grief, or pain. That is my promise to you, Lance.


	17. Lance’s POV

I woke up early with a sleeping Keith brushing up against my side. His hands dug into the pockets of my jacket, he was cold and I could tell by his pink nose as he tried to nuzzle closer. I held onto him to exchange some heat and kissed him on his forehead before departing. 

I left with a yawn and an outrageously messy bed head. I didn't bother to stop by my quarters to straighten out my curls that had begun to fall. I hadn't even bothered to go and brush my teeth and hair, I merely went straight to where we were usually congregated. I greeted everyone with a drowsy smile. 

"Why weren't you in your room?" Coran peered through the corner, twisting his mustache. 

"I was in the training room, I fell asleep." I didn't bother to lie, I had nothing to keep from my team.

Pidge moved her glasses, "Why did you go out of your way to sleep in there? Your bed would have been so much more comfortable." She didn't really seem to care, words were just spewing out of her mouth as she typed on her computer. Matt and Mr. Holt were both asleep. 

"I went in there to gaze up at the stars, it just reminds me of home. That's it really." I shrugged. I continued to be truthful.

She let out a smile, "We will all be home soon. You need to stop going to outlandish places like that, it'll be hard to track you down. Keith was looking for you yesterday. Did he ever find you?- he wasn't in his room either." Pidge raised a sly brow. 

The beginning of what she said made my heart sink. Everyone would be home and I'd be stuck in the endless void of space killing off Lotor's previous girl squad. I wanted to take things with Keith slow for this reason. I didn't want to find myself so deep in a relationship to where our parting would break me. I knew that it would, regardless, but the extent of which could always be less severe. Keith wouldn't listen and that made our time all the more special. He didn't know that it would be cut off by space and time. 

I dozed off, ignoring everything else Pidge said after her comment about going home. "What? Sorry, I didn't hear you." It came out as sarcastic.

She summed everything I had failed to pay attention to. Her voice was dry. "Was Keith with you?"

"Keith was with me, yes." I played it off as it not being a big deal, even though it was to me. In no shape or form should it be considered novel news to them. What we did was between us. This was expected, this was what was supposed to happen. Rivals were destined to fall in love.

"You two are dating aren't you?" Pidge accused.

Allura and Coran sighed and Hunk just froze in the back ground. It seemed that he was ready to whip out popcorn at anytime. He begged Pidge to let him join in on the drama at hand. 

"I am dating Keith Kogane." I said proudly with a sparkle in my teeth. I moved my hands up to my face, a finger gun resting under my chin. I wasn't going to give them any satisfaction by becoming flustered at their breakthrough. 

Pidge and Hunk stood in silence as their mouths opened wide after hearing the news. "Are you serious?!?" Hunk exclaimed. Coran and Allura both smiled at each other.

I didn't understand why it was so hard for them to believe, nor did I get why they were making a bigger deal out of it than I was and I was so ardent. Apparently, our relationship was the most improbable. I hated how I could slightly see that being true. I had run around all this time flirting with ladies. Now, I found myself with a boyfriend more than happy.

Keith peered out of the corner of where we had gathered. He rubbed his eye while making his way towards me. He seems to be half asleep still, being only slightly unaware of what was happening. 

"Good morning." He yawned, leaning on my shoulder. He gripped tightly onto my jacket that he still wore. It laid over his shoulders like a shawl. 

"Quiznack, this is cannon." Pidge and Hunk both nodded in agreement as their eyes slowly lit up. The two of them started to act like a pair of fangirls who just got a poster autographed by their idol. They squealed, starting to lightly slap each other. Once Hunk calmed down, Pidge did the same. He reached into his pocket and handed Pidge a bill that was the equivalent to twenty Earth dollars. She had a smug face on.

I wrapped my arm around Keith, "You guys made a bet? What the quiznack is wrong with you!" I didn't know if I wanted to laugh, it did humor me, or get angry. I ended up laughing hysterically, so much to the point where Keith flinched away. "No no, come back." I pulled him in closer. 

He broke away, "I need to get ready in my room." He walked off slowly and I debated on if he were sleep walking and would remember this. Before he completely left, he caught my attention as he winked. A shock of electric energy flowed through the bottom of my feet to the top of my head. It was erotic. 

I looked at my friends dazed from Keith's gesture. This was my coming out, "I know we've always known that Keith was gay, but did any of you guys know I was bisexual?" I fiddled with my hands seeking this answer in hopes of sedating my own curiosity. 

"Honestly, I didn't expect this to happen, that's why I made that bet with Pidge. I would have never thought that Keith would go after a guy like you... in the nicest way possible!" Hunk had to reconsider what he was saying with his last statement before he continued. He took things in a less blunt direction. "You liking boys isn't too big of a reveal, it's just you two are so different." 

"Well, they do say opposites attract." I winked.

"Now is not a time to make charge jokes. It's time to make puns regarding both of you dating." Pidge dramatically paused. "So, Lance, could you have been any more straight forward?- Oh wait. There is nothing straight about it!" 

"Let's stop there." I held up my hand as if telling her to halt, she thankfully complied. I wanted to cringe. I wondered if my pick up lines were just as unbearable. What am I saying, I'm a flirting sovereign. I didn't want to think about it even though I knew I was comparing two very different things. 

Pidge nudged me, "You know you want to." She raised both brows twice. 

"Good bi, I'm off to see my boyfriend." My eyes circled as I ran out of the room. It took Pidge a second to understand that I was playing along with her with her pun game. 

She shouted out to me as I was leaving, "Use protection!" She fell onto the floor with her hands pressing down on her chest. She tried to contain her manic laughter. 

"Pensaste." I yelled, laughing along with her. My Spanish was probably inaudible. 

I made it into his room, looking around in awe to really take in how spotless it was. I knew that Keith didn't have a clutter issue, but that still didn't mean his room had to be practically empty. It looked unused. I wondered if he had been sleeping somewhere else all this time. I wondered if he felt lonely. I had been in his room before, but it was different with there being two people. With just myself to observe, I felt so uneasy. 

The feeling faded away when I heard the sound of water coming from the bathroom. Keith was either taking a shower or was washing his hands in the sink. I knocked three consistent times, "Hey, Keith, it's me Lance." 

His voice was muffled, "Come in." The sounds of the water flowing down the pipes became louder once the door was behind me. It splashed and made its way onto the counter as he ran his toothbrush threw the sink water. He then brought it up to his pearly, white teeth. Keith's hair was pushed back. 

"Oh no-" I was about to go off before Keith turned around to look at me. I took my hands and drew it across his skin in a tender loving way.

"Yeah..?" He questioned in a flirty tone. I made sure to take on a concerned facade. I was indeed being melodramatic. 

"Your pores are the worst I have ever seen, Keith, your complexion is too fair to let it go uncared for!" I sounded horrified. I saw his face drop as pique soon took color. I twirled around him, "I suggest you move everything out of your bathroom and even your bedroom. I'm putting you on a skin cleaning plan that will take up the rest of our time up in space." 

Keith waited in silence, he was unsure of what was happening. My words had finally woken him up and his awareness sprouted. His eyes carefully wandered to the side, avoiding contact with mine. He took his hand and slapped the sink off and dropped his toothbrush. He placed his hand on the counter and the other on his hip, he leaned forward. Keith's pale skin began to redden, "Of fucking course!" His voice cracked and rose five pitches higher. 

I took him in, "You know we aren't allowed to use that word up here?" I kissed him, "Minty."


	18. Keith’s POV

"Lance, use sword!" I yelled. We had formed Voltron and were on our last rift. The planet we were on had dangerously high levels of a toxic matter. 

It was a very complex process to permanently close the rifts. This was supposedly the only one we had left. It proved to be the most challenging.

"Which one, miel?" Lance whispered through the the communicator. I did my best to not get distracted. I was the leader and my full attention was required.

Everyone simultaneously screamed trying to yell over Lance and his dirtiness. "That's disgusting." "I did not need to hear that." "Stop goofing off!"

"Alright. I'll form it." Lance sighed as if he was disappointed, efficiently forming the sword in a timely manner. 

Before we continued, I shared precaution with everyone concerning the weapon. The sword was like a key into the rift, once submerged into quintessence, and the dousing process was threatening. I reinforced this whenever in especially concerning environments. We were on one of the most dangerous planets in the galaxy.  
Simultaneously, all of our lion's sirens went off. A flashing red light began to blind us. 

"Mayday mayday! Keith, Voltron as a whole is malfunctioning due to the chemical compounds mixing. The air and the quintessence are reacting together. I don't even think we can withstand this blow!" Pidge screamed so we could all hear her over the sirens. She panicked, trying to disable each of the lion's warning systems.

My intense expression was heightened with my words, "Pursue, paladins, we have no choice but to endure whatever the environment throws at us." We all felt the strain Voltron was tolerating. 

Lance blew an air kiss out to me even during such a troubling time, "I love it when my man takes charge." He was my optimistic circle. 

"Engaging binding grazer!" I yelled as we dragged the sword across the fracture in time. The irony of having to use quintessence to eradicate the ability to collect any more was an advantage. We had used up half of what the quintessence that the Galra had previously possessed. We were knocking two birds out with one stone. 

Voltron shook as I flew it above the growing rift. Lance was doing everything in his power to ensure that the sword was steady and clean cut, ready to glide down the opening. The slightest of gaps not being covered could result in an opposite effect. The crack would expand twice in size and it would release mammoth amounts of the deadly substance, possibly destroying several neighboring planets. 

We forcibly dismantled our lions and scattered across the surface to make sure the rift had been properly closed. 

"Everything that I'm seeing is good!" Hunk gleefully informed us. The other paladins and I eventually gave a clear after several minutes of unneeded builded up suspense. We had all successfully closed the rifts and closed off Zarkon's ability to prevent further damage. Everything from now on would be considered child's play. 

Lance and I were on our third month of dating. We hadn't expected the clefts in space to take so long to close, but the days seemed to fly by. It was great getting our first month out of the way. Our first month was composed of awkwardness. I was to blame. 

Our relationship together wasn't his first while it was mine. Lance was experienced. It took time to adjusted to his pick up lines, but soon enough I became just as witty. We loved to tease each other, but he definitely got more out of it than what I did. We gave each other endearing pet names. I called Lance babe and I was miel, Spanish for honey. 

Moving out of my room and into Lance's bedroom proved to be more difficult than we thought. Allura was weary at first with the idea. She quickly caved in after Lance's tenacious nagging. She offered to move our quarters to a more discrete setting with a larger bed and facilities, the princess thought it was barbaric for us to be scrunched up on a single bed. I was content wherever I ended up as long as it was with Lance. I ended up moving into Lance's room where we made it ours. We spooned a lot. 

He'd sing to me in Spanish some nights and it would make my heart throb. He'd serenade me with songs he had written for me and solely me. 

Lance would only say he loved me in Spanish, a part of himself refused to say it in English. Spanish was a romance language and his explanation was that English would take out the full meaning of his words. I adored his flawed logic. 

"I miss your magenta and hot pink mullet." He laughed as I laid on top of him on our bed, we were both shirtless. He played with my hair, his finger wrapping around my tendrils. 

I took my hands and put them on the sides of his face, looking down into his deep blue eyes, "What are you talking about?" I tenderly asked.

He closed his eyes briefly to enjoy the warmth of my hands, "You don't remember that you kissed me first. I had never met someone so possessive and demanding. It freaked me out at first, but once I knew it was you, damn, it was so attractive." 

"Babe." I whined, hiding my face in his chest. "I'm sorry if I did that. I know that at the time we weren't dating." I mumbled into his skin. 

"I wish you did it sooner." I looked up at him with his sparkling eyes. We both smiled. 

Lance had been taking the most control while dating. I didn't mind, but I knew this was his way of asking me to take on the role he had claimed at first. I was the leader of Voltron, why couldn't I lead our relationship? The wall was down and I had no reason to be timid. 

I took my hands off his face and put them on the edge of the bed, trapping Lance with my arms. A pleasantly surprised smirk formed on his face as I leaned down to kiss him on his neck. Lance gasped for air, he had expected me to go somewhere less tender. My first instinct was to flinch back and apologize a thousand times, but I viciously continued. 

We woke up late in the afternoon. Closing the final rift and our make out session had proved to be exhausting. Our hair was the worst it had even been. The two prime suspects for the messiness of it was from either our fingers running through watch other's hair or from all the hair tugging. I had a small hickey on my collar bone. I had given Lance twelve all across his neck and two on his left hand. 

"You are such a vampire, what the hell?" He rubbed the love bruises I gave him. I tainted his beautiful dark complexion. "I don't expect this to be the last time." He chuckled with a red face.

I put my shirt back onto my body while trying to fix my ratty hair. I still managed to give Lance my full undivided attention, "You are so annoying I think I'm in love with you."

"Te amo también, miel." He began to get ready as well. "Do you want to wear my jacket again?" 

I looked around the room and found it laying over on a chair. "Yeah, sure." 

Once we were dressed, we grabbed each other's hand while leaving. The heavy door behind us slammed initiating a little racing game we liked to play. We raced over to the training room with laughs and tickle fights in between. We both would admire all of space together, but ultimately we'd go to enjoy each other in solitude and privacy. 

Space was sometimes a tragic force. It had the ability to divide the strongest of people, it divided up Pidge's family for example. It was also a dangerous place full of power hungry aliens. Some were merciful while others were merciless. 

What I had learned through my struggle was that trust and compassion is a necessity. Never did I realize that it would later grow into an unbreakable bond formed by the unification of two souls. Space meant distance, but it brought Lance and I together. I also knew that space had the power to divide us.


	19. Lance’s POV

With almost all of Zarkon's forces being completely obliterated, Allura made the decision to retire the lions. It was an emotional moment for all of us, but it was all done triumphantly. The lions were to rest in the castle until they were needed again. We were honorary heroes known universally. The princess was so proud of her paladins.

The princess and Hunk collaborated on throwing a huge party to celebrate all of what we had accomplish. Every ally was invited to the event. This was to be a new age of prosperity and a new age of peace. 

It was our last week in space and I had to make it the most special for Keith. I thought to myself about how this was the end of our relationship. It had been roughly six months since we had started dating. We had been through so much. My heart already began to ache.

We had nothing to wear to the event regarding something formal. Coran and Allura refused to let that happened and so they made orders to have exquisite Altean costumes personally designed to matched our armor. 

They were all identical, yet each outfit had one aspect that made it original. I had a long, silk blue cape with purple and gold trimming at the bottom. Keith had a forehead tiara, the middle jewel was a dark red and it's neighboring gems were purple and the band was gold. Hunk had heavy shoulder plates that were designed to almost emulate golden wings. Pidge had an elaborate collar and off shouldered long sleeves with embroidery. Allura wore a slim Altean pink dress that clashed when compared to what we wore, but she was attempting to represent something different than a paladin of Voltron. Allura was emphasizing that she was the princess that lead us through it all. She was building a republic. 

Keith had decided to grow out his mullet. His new, longer hair suited him better. It was easier to comb with my fingers and it made him look older. We both had matured. 

He tied back his hair into a ponytail to draw more attention to his tiara and I slicked my hair back. We both wore the necklaces we gave each other.

The food that was being served was all supplied by Hunk. Either people were dancing or stuffing their faces with his concoctions. He saved a dance for Shay and they even exchanged a kiss. 

Pidge was a wall flower during the first half of the celebratory event until Matt came by and asked her to dance. She looked beautiful in what she was wearing and once in the middle of the dance floor, all eyes were on her in the best way possible. Everyone killed to simply have the opportunity to talk to the green paladin. The father and daughter dance was the most touching. 

Allura was a diplomat at the event. She took a ten minute break from her duties to dance with Coran, who insisted that she'd do so. The princess observed everyone from the balcony to ensure everyone was having a good time. She seemed excruciatingly on edge. 

"Anything you want to vent out, princess?" I asked, whisking my cape to the side. "Might I add, you look rather dashing." 

"Thank you, Lance." She seemed like she didn't want to share her burden. "What I fear is building up the Galra empire all on my own. It is an empire that's over ten thousand years old. All I have is Coran, I don't even have my father's support." She looked down at all the smiling faces.

"Maybe you could have Lotor do that job for you- with you I mean? From what Matt has told me you've developed a crush on him. I know he isn't a hero, but he isn't a villain. That's saying something coming from me." I leaned against the railing. "I'm not going to be able to continue my relationship with Keith, I'll be in space in another dimension with a completely different concept of time. Lotor traded his knowledge for my promise to assist him in killing his half Galra team of traitors."

She brought her hands up to her mouth, "Lance, I had no idea that you made that kind of sacrifice. I'm deeply sorry. If anything, I'll do my best to convince him to let you off. It might be good for Lotor to abandon his desire to inflict vengeance. I'll see what I can do, but I won't promise anything. Lotor can be quite stubborn." A deep blush was faintly spread across her dark skin. She had romantic feelings towards the prince, that was clear, but I could also see, even through her beating blue eyes, she was disappointed in him. 

I looked at her with mourning eyes, "We both know your efforts will be in vain. Once they are killed, he'll probably come back and help assist you with the republic. You'd let me come and help too, right?" I winked away a tear. 

"Of course, Lance, of course." She replied much later than what was expected. She mind was riddled.

I knew Lotor well enough from all our planning and devising that he was against abandoning who he'd grown close with. He trusted very few people, but Lotor could trust Allura with his life. It was evident to see what feelings they had mustered up was mutual, though it's fairly easy to tell once you endure the same. Lotor would come back and lead alongside Allura once it was all over, but we needed to fulfill the contract we had made. I sometimes would wonder if Lotor ever regretted making it in the first place. 

I relaxed the muscles in my face, "Princess, we'll both work through this. We defeated Zarkon after all, didn't we? Let's not dwell on this now. We have a party to enjoy," I scrunched up my eye in a wink and flashed her a bright smile. I was supposed to celebrate a night of success with my team and not dwell on anything heavy. I still felt the weight of the agreement. I was down, glued to the ground. I couldn't get up. I put all this over-analyzed thinking past me.

Looking out over the railing I saw the most enchanting being in the world, Keith Kogane. My necklace bounced as I pranced down the elegant staircase down to where he was. My Altean cloak flowed from left to right as I took each step. I jumped onto Keith, forcing him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around me in return. I was impressed with myself that I didn't trip on my cape. 

I was sure that Allura was looking at us with grey eyes. She knew what I had been meaning to tell Keith, but couldn't manage to say anything. What we had was so perfect.

Keith took off his crown and placed into onto my forehead, "For my prince." He kissed my cheek.

I took off my cape and attached it to his neck, "For my knight in shinning armor." I whispered into his ear. 

The music that surrounded us was blurred until we opened up our ears to it. I was in tune with his thoughts and movements.We took each other by storm as we dominated the dance floor. We held onto each other's body tightly, our hands grasped and refused to let go. The rhythm we had begun to compose was just as passionate as anything we had performed in our bedroom. We moved in an ordered, structured manner lost in love. Time ticked away faster than the adrenaline rushing through our blood that almost made our hearts combust out of our chests. 

Our feet began to ache, but nothing could ache like knowing I couldn't be with Keith. I wanted to give everything to him. I promised to give him everything. Worst of all, I would fail to give him my last name. 

He took my hand and dragged me away from the party. We ended up in a small room within the castle not too far away from the music and chatter of the event, but far enough to where we couldn't be heard. The Altean formalwear was harder to strip off than we had both planned, slightly ruining what we intended on doing. 

I took a deep breathe before exhaling, "Keith, I've been meaning to tell you something important." I stood still, begging my mouth to stop moving. 

"Go on, babe?" He started to become concerned. I didn't use the pet name I had given him. I was making the indication that what I had to say was serious. 

I couldn't do it, "Happy six month anniversary, miel. I know how we'll be heading back home in the next few days, but I wanted to surprise you with something." 

His violet eyes shined with hope and curiosity, "What did you get me?" He asked radiating devotion. 

I wanted to lean onto him and cry the truth out. I wanted to tell him that all of what had been happening was because I made a cruel compromise. I was severely cheated. I'd rather be stuck with Voltron risking my life than knowing I'd never see him again. What had I done? The wall was building itself up again. The space between us was beginning to grow and only I could see it. Keith was blind and beginning to fall out of reach. I was the one falling. 

I grabbed onto his hands, rubbing the top with my thumbs. "I found your mother." 

Surprise hit him like the hurt I was enduring, "I can't believe this. I can't believe you actually found her. I have so much to ask. Babe, thank you." He kissed me on my cheek. 

I'm sorry, Keith, in advance. I'm sorry for all that I've put you through, for all the waiting, but Keith? I'll never regret the time we had spent with each other. You were the best six months of my life. I'm sorry if you can say the same. I love you and I always will.

"Siempre, mi amor."


	20. Keith’s POV

Lance and I had finished loading up our last item onto the small vessel we had been granted. He supposedly was going to fly it to where my mother was. I feared for my life, but this was our half a year anniversary gift and it would only be right if I left him drive to the destination.

The Holts had all left earlier that morning to depart home. They were all eager to meet up with Mrs. Holt who had been alone for months on end, possibly a few years. There really was no saying in how long it had been, space and time didn't like to agree.

Hunk had made the decision to go back home as well, he missed his family like any other ordinary person. He consulted Allura to see if it would ever be possible to return up in space. 

She smiled, "You are always welcomed back here! Hold onto the aircraft that you have been given and the Altean formalwear that was designed for you. They are a prize well won. Thank you for your dedication." She bid the Holts and Hunk goodbye with the same small speech. 

"I'll see you later, guys!" Hunk screamed at Lance and I. He wiggled his way into the small ship and blasted away.

I could recall to when Matt hugged Lance goodbye, "Brothers for life." Pidge joined in squeezing the two. Mr. Holt laughed while eyeing a thank you at me, as if I were the ones to have kept his kids safe. I was in no position to have been credited that responsibility. 

I looked over at Lance, watching Hunk fly off into space at tremendous speed. He appeared to be on verge of deflating like an opening balloon. There was something so sorrowful about it. He knew something I didn't and it made my skin crawl. I hid my goosebumps as he stared off into space and I stared at his darkening eyes. 

I moved my way into his arms, reaching with my toes to rest on his shoulder, "Are you ready to leave, babe?" I kissed him on his cheek as he loosened our hug. 

He seemed to snap back into reality, "Absolutamente, miel. ¡Vámonos!" He snickered taking me by my hand as if everything I had seen I imagined. 

Allura came by holding her hands out front before we managed to embark on my family reunion, "Keith and Lance, please be careful. I don't mean to sound distrusting, but to think of a Galra woman settling all by herself on a desolate planet... It's questionable." She eyed Lance as she said this, gulping, as the prince made his way into a larger space craft. "Lotor will be coming with you two."

I let go of my boyfriend gently pushing him away out of slight vexation, "Wait, why is Lotor coming with us? We are both fully capable of defending ourselves." I tightly grasped into Lance's hand expecting him to defend my case. 

"I asked that he'd come." Lance brushed my hair back, kissing my forehead. "He won't bother us while we met her." 

I decided not to push my boundaries. I calmed down, which enabled me to truly think about how considerate it was. 

Lance started up the ship's engine and began to fly away from the castle. Coran and Allura stood by and watched us ascend into the black mystery speckled with glowing stars. We were following Lotor and his spacecraft. 

It didn't take us long to get onto the planet, our arrival made me think of the Holt's and Hunk's. They were probably cozy and warm in their houses, crying at how touching it was to find their families again and to feel that love. I wondered if finding my mother would be just the same.

I had been angry and alone without my mom, but I had finally learned that things weren't always as they seemed. People sometimes did what they thought was best while really their judgment was false. I was hoping this was one of those scenarios. 

Lotor guided us to a quant, faculty looking home in the middle of no where. There was no true color on the planet, other than our necklaces. The ground was a dead brown and the sky was as bleak as a storm cloud. It was an ugly planet to be on. 

The doors swished open and a Galra woman accepted us as her own. She supposedly looked at lot like myself when I was in my Galra form, yet much taller and with a scar across her eye. 

Lance dismissed Lotor after they bickered in privacy as I caught up with my mother, "You look so much like your dad." She smiled, "I know I can't make up for all the years I had been gone. My sister was drafted to work with Zarkon and I did everything in my power to rescue her. I had failed to and she died, leaving me heartbroken in both ways. I should have never left you and your father." She tightly held onto me, trying to dig her claws into my fragile muscles.

"I'm amazed that you are alive! Why don't we go down to Earth together and live there with dad again?" I knew Lance of all people was eager to get back home. Extending out this invitation met that not only would my family be restored, but that it would get to expand and intertwine with another one. She seemed so opposed to the idea that I thought that introducing Lance might change her mind, "Mom, meet my boyfriend, Lance McClain." 

Lance sheepishly smiled as he made his way to where my mother was. She was taller than him, but was the average height of a Galra woman, "It's a pleasure to meet you." 

Lance stared into her eyes and whatever he had saw seemed to be familiar to him. Her hoarse voice breathed, "Thank you for looking after my Keith, I can't thank you enough." She seemed so exhausted.

To perk her up, my mother and I exchanged story after story. I only talked about the highlights of my time on Earth and I discarded the downs. I talked about my adventures up in space protecting everyone against Zarkon through Voltron as the leader. I was at least one of them anyways. 

She talked about our family and how small it had become. It was just her now and she hated spending her life mourning. I felt good about inattentively avenging my aunt's death. I took away the weight my mom had felt on her shoulder concerning her younger sister and I could see it through the smile on her face. In the end she didn't have much to apologize for, I was the one who felt guilty and I wasn't the one to leave. I forgave her almost instantaneously. 

I had become so caught up in the moment that I didn't notice Lance's hand on my shoulder, "We need to talk,” He said.

I gave him a look, "Is now really a good time?" I wanted to continue catching up with my mom. I had still so many questions to ask, so much to wonder. Whatever he needed to tell me seemed of uttermost importance.

He attacked me with his eyes, demanding that I would rise up from the chair that I had begun to get comfortable in. I obliged to his wish.

He grabbed my hand drawing me into a secluded area, we stood in a tiny section of my mom's home. I was not prepared for the news I was about to receive. I was still full of the shock of meeting my mother.

He sighed as tears began to swell in his eyes. He fell onto the floor. His hands clamped onto the cuffs of my jeans, "Lotor is here to take me away from you. No, it is not out of force. No, it is not out of will. I did this for you. I did this so you could find your mother. We made a deal and he had kept his word..." He rushed as his tears became heavily violent and his voice started to break. The entire planet could hear him.

I thought about what Lotor had told me months ago. The prince gave me a forewarning, something Lance should have done. It was too late now to do anything about it. 

My heart dropped and it felt the extent of sinking, "You just can't give up on us like that?! Let me talk to Lotor, we can get through this." I looked down at him.

"Stay here with your mom, I know you already made up your mind to stay with her. It's not like there was anything left on Earth for you anyways." He coughed up this horrible lie and it pained him. Regardless, it made me angry.

He wasn't even going to fight for us. It made me question how committed he was in our relationship. I would have never thought something like this would happen. He thought I picked my mother over him. To most people that would have probably been their first choice. I, on the other hand, was not most people. I chose him. I chose him at one point of time. 

I kicked him off my legs and I grabbed him off the floor. I push him into the corner, "Fuck you, Lance. I've been told my entire life that I was worthless and that I had nothing going for me. I don't need to hear it. I don't need to hear it any longer. The audacity you have." 

I tore off the necklace he gave to me, The promise fell onto the floor as I slapped him. The tears began to subside as he was dragged away from Lotor into the larger spaceship. Our eyes were still attached, I didn't even bother to look at the droplet necklace he had in his clutch.

My mother limped out of her chair to hold me. It felt wrong. I wanted it to be Lance. In a past life it would have been different, in another life it will be different. 

Space seemingly was getting too big. Not even our relationship could push past the barrier that began to grow like a parasitic tumor. I broke off the hug from my mother as I glued my face to the window. The craft flew off into the distance getting tinier and tinier as each second passed. 

Goodbye.

It was all so sudden. The thought of how broken what we had made me want to hurl an ungodly emotion. I didn't have anything left of him as he carried off with the necklace. I was glad he had a piece of me though. 

Even in the comfort of my mother I felt lonely and ostracized. I was left heart broken by someone I was so scared to let in. There was a lot of hurt in what we had, but I didn't care. I still wanted him. I knew it pained him to leave. We were both submerged into a tarred, sticky pit of longing. 

My mom brought me to a guest bedroom. She quickly tidied up the small place, it took roughly ten minutes for it to be deemed presentable. Her place was full of clutter and family memories. There was everything you could think of except there wasn't a single photo in a frame.

I asked my mother for pictures of my relatives. It seemed to be a simple request, but she seemed deeply disturbed by the idea. I was fairly clueless on Galra culture. Everything I had been taught was from Lotor and that was a very minimum amount of knowledge. My recklessness was the only thing that I could sympathize with my intergalactic heritage. The fact that the Galra never documented images of their family was an interesting discovery.

Galra technology was so much more advanced than what Earth had to offer. They had camera like devices before humans. The way my mother had explained photography made it seemed like it was never utilized. I gathered my family was small and secretive. She was odd.

"Keith, I'll be in the lounging room. Make yourself comfortable here." She smiled as she left me in unsettling silence. 

I fell onto my bed along with carrying my broken yet burning heart. I still felt Lance's warmth as I grasped tightly onto a pillow that was on my bed. I wanted to chew and rip it in half. I eventually found myself throwing the pillow across the room, knocking down a container that rested on the highest shelf.

Photos began their descend by spiraling around me. They circled me like the stairs of the training room where Lance and I spent long days in each other's company. 

I held out my hand to collect one of the small pictures. It was of my father from years ago with a young woman, my mother. I was later able to rummage through the other bins that were locked up tightly. Where I was expected to stay at night was once a storage room. 

The photos were all of Earth's landscape. They were captured unprofessionally and in a strange angle. Most were of summer's green trees and of fall's crisp leaves. The only other photograph that was taken of an individual was a baby picture of me that I had never seen. 

It must have had been a painful reminder. All the wasted years she had spent. She couldn't bare and throw the pictures away even if they were attached to a bittersweet memory. I understood that struggle. 

There was something keeping her from leaving the small home. Our family had died out years ago. My mother had spent years all by her lonesome. She was a character I'd never be able to decipher. I guess that was how mothers were, you could never figure out what they were thinking but they just knew what you were. Motherly instincts are the purest source of a criminal justice system. They know when you've done something wrong and they'll catch you, no matter how impressive you are with covering up the truth. 

Her smile dropped and her eyes popped out, "Were you looking through those old pictures?" She covered her mouth with her claw as she saw the picture of me as a baby. "You were so tiny, Keith." She moved her hands to her heart to feel the warmth she felt concerning the image. 

It was odd to think of the transition of her attitude towards family, she seemed to be bipolar, "I thought you said that Galra don't like taking pictures?" I rubbed my fingers across the laminated photo. It was of Earth's quality. 

"I had forgotten about those pictures. It's been years since I've even set foot in your room." Her eyes wandered. 

"Can I keep these two pictures?" A smile formed on my face as I called for her eyes to pay me attention. I thought it was best to not dwell on it.

She walked over to me to twist my long hair that framed my face around her long finger, "Yes, you may."

As the days followed, Lance was always on my mind. I was in a cycle of waking up, thinking, and eating. I had inherited my introverted personality from my mom, which was a connivence for her- she had spent so much time with herself without another being to serve as her company on the vacant planet. 

Any social butterfly would find themselves at the cusp of insanity. I thought I was losing my mind and It had only been a week and I was a declared loner. 

It was Lance. 

I didn't mind spending my days by myself, but it was unbearable spending time with the thought of never seeing him again. I was bored. I was hopeless. I was crazy.

I woke up that morning with the decision to not linger all day uselessly in my room. I sat at the counter greeting my mother as she prepared something for us to eat. The only noise that was radiated was the clashing of platters. There was no conversation to be engaged in, even after my greeting.

I took out my knife to deliver me from the painful restlessness. I had the knife dance around my hand. It was a maneuver I had learned while working with the Blade of Marmora. She set down everything to watch me preform the stunt.

I stopped moving it as I let her examine the blade that she had left for my father, "Do you recognize this?" I asked jokingly, knowing that she'd be aware of the object and it's significance.

I let her take it from my hands. She picked it up, her purple finger running across the edge. "You worked with the Blade of Marmora? I'm so proud of you, son." She tried to move her voice higher to indicate that it was a pleasant surprise. A surprise. 

My eyes began to widen with realization. I was struck with horror and fear. I had worked alongside the Blade of Marmora, but the knife was a token I had held onto. It was all that I had left of my mother. This wasn't her or she was so far gone to where it wouldn't matter. 

I had spent over a week with a mad woman. I was like a confused, caged bird that had just learned that my wings had been clipped. I noticed that I had feathers growing. If I was going to ever be able to fly away, now would be the only moment to do so. 

I took the knife up to the imposter's neck, there wasn't a question in my mind that I would slit her throat, "Tell me who you really are. My mother gave me this knife, it's all I have left of her. If you really are who you say, you would have remembered. What's my last name?" I gritted my teeth as tears followed. I was beyond furious.

The woman, however, began to sink into a terrible, sorrowful sob. Her heart had snapped into two pieces. I didn't feel remorse.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She mumbled almost incoherently, "I'm your aunt not your mother. I've been so lonely, I was losing my mind. I'll adopt you. You can become my son. You are my son!" She became hysteric. 

I recoiled back in awe. I saw the panic in her eyes when I had discovered the truth. We both knew well that I was sickened by her manipulation. I hated liars, especially ones with the intent on holding me hostage. It never had been an outlandish belief. 

She reacted fast. My aunt reached over and grabbed a chair attempting to knock me out. She swung it around the room. I ducked whenever it made its way towards me. Her tears soon began to taint her motives. I had noticed there was something off about her. 

I grabbed onto the chair while it was still swinging through the air and I threw it across the room out of her reach. We were both caught in a bent stance in the middle of the room. I held the Galra knife her sister had given me in my right hand as she propped up a kitchen knife in her left. Luckily, neither one of us had to use a weapon. 

I managed to push her onto the ground. I slid a heavy coffee table over her to where she'd have difficulty getting back up. It was a low rise piece of furniture. I was now graced with the opportunity to dodge past her and her crooked attempt to keep me her prisoner. 

Once I had made it towards the front door, I discovered she had locked it to ensure that I'd be trapped. I took my knife and dug it across the rough edges of the door frame. I was able to break the lock and escape with hast from her home before she could jerk herself free.

I panted once free of her captivity. I slammed the door shut as I stumbled upon the ground's rocky surface. I tightly held onto my knife and two pictures, a baby picture of me and one of my parents. I was given permission to take them, though it was out of false authority. I stole the last memory she'd ever have of her sister. 

I frantically searched for anything that would serve as transportation off the planet. I caught glimpse of the ship Lance and I had ridden over. I got in and managed to fly away before I could be killed. In the end, I knew there had been some truth to the stories she had told. 

Lotor knew of my DNA from all the testing he had done. She was the closest match they could have been able to find and from everything I had been told we were the only ones left. Zarkon had killed my mother and the rest of my family. My aunt had become delirious at her passing while mourning the loss of everyone she dearly loved. She switched her role with my mom's. 

I didn't know where to fly off to. The small ship that I was on could only locate me three places. I could either go to Earth, back to the castle, or the location of Lotor's ship- I could get Lance back.

It was all starting to come together. How we were able to defeat Zarkon and how we were able to find Pidge and Matt's father was all because of a sneaky deal with the devil. 

What Lance had failed to communicate to me was that he had made a pact. Lotor had failed to deliver Lance his last request: my mother. She was dead ultimately discrediting the agreement that had been constructed. It was invalid; I could get him back without having to get my hands messy. The only issue with getting Lance back was that there was a high probability that he had made it to the other dimension with Lotor. If that was the case, it would be a hopeless endeavor. My ship did not possess the ability to travel through dimensions. I set my course to their coordinates. 

I had suffered through too much to simply just let go. I had to at least try and fight for him. My mother was deceased and Shiro was long dead. I had lost them both. I wasn't strong enough to have anyone else sacrificed. 

I couldn't let Lance out of my grasp when I had just held in my arms not a week prior. It couldn't have been too late. I wouldn't accept defeat. I closed my eyes and exhaled, letting the small spacecraft guide me to where he was deemed to be without the interference of my navigation. My head began to drown with the thoughts of a Cuban boy that I loved. 

Lance McClain, you have done so much for me and now I'll do this for you. I'm sorry I yelled. I'm sorry I broke the necklace off my neck. I'm sorry I didn't listen to your beautiful voice. 

I'm coming.


	21. Lance’s POV

My thumbs found themselves twiddling, it was all that I seemed to know how to do. Lotor and I began our journey, but we found ourselves lost is space. It took about a week to encode the technology that would let us travel to another dimension. Lotor still had a few quirks to work out. We'd leave emphatically soon. 

I turned around, "How did you get us lost in space? Let me pilot the ship." I still held onto the necklace Keith almost smashed beneath his healed boots. He didn't reach my height with even his shoes on. I missed his sorry ass, even after he grew out the mullet that I grew to adore. Even after space broke us apart. 

Lotor spat with malicious intent, "How do I know that you won't just turn around this ship and go rescue your boy toy?" He continued to press the illuminated buttons that were displayed. He seemed unknowledgeable with Altean technology. 

I rolled my eyes as my thumbs found their way onto the blue crystal, "I don't see why I'll need to rescue him, he's happy with his mom." It comforted me in the slightest to know that. Regardless, it was a sucky way to celebrate our first half year. 

Lotor continued with what he had been doing grumbling under his breathe, "Just sit there and look pretty."

"Aww, you need any help, princess?" I fluttered my eyelashes at him. 

"This is going to be unbearable, isn't it?" He shook his head, prompting his hands on a few controls. Lotor was figuring out the system. 

"You should just let me off right now to save yourself time. Urban legend says that each of my horrible pick-up lines add twenty years. That would not look good for your complexion." Keith's existence couldn't fade from my mind, no matter how much I tried to conceal it. Keith must have been over a thousand. 

The aircraft started to viciously shake from an outside disturbance. Red sirens had begun to blind our eyes and had begun to ring in our ears almost deafening us. 

"What the quiznack is out there?" I screamed, almost falling out of my seat. The turbulence significantly increased as we continued to be plummeted by meteors, we assumed as much. 

Lotor canceled the ship from progressing any further through the time warp to be able to detect what was hitting the vessel we were aboard. 

"I'm sensing a small spacecraft that's repeatedly ramming into our ship, permission to exterminate." Lotor calmly uncovered the source of the delay. 

"Permission denied." I checked my nail beds, "I suggest we bring them onboard to have a nice heart to heart." 

I could see Lotor's irritation even as his back faced me, "Are you suggesting we let the being that's attacking us onboard?" He turned around with a brow trying to crawl off his face. "They are clearly just as incompetent as you are."

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting and there's no need to be rude, you don't want to hurt their feelings now." I rolled across the bay of the ship, the chair I was sitting in had wheels. 

The ship stopped forcibly running into our spacecraft after it saw that we had halted. It requested permission to enter. 

"I say we blow it up." Lotor's long white hair flowed. There was only one plus side with ruining my chances of ever ending back on Earth in my time. I got to use his shampoo. 

I fake laughed, "I say no." I bluntly expressed with an intense facial expression. "You should let me pester them a bit, maybe I'll be less inclined to annoy you?" I tempted him. 

He quickly granted access to the ship. Lotor slapped his large hands on the holographic screen, making it fuzz. The prince sent me off to welcome them aboard, making sure to give me a gun as I did so. I gracefully walked down to the loading grounds where the beaten ship was. 

I loaded up my gun, "Raise your hands above your head and walk out slowly." I was assertive. 

"And under what offense am I being arrested for?" A slender man with long black hair removed his helmet. The helmet bounced as it clashed onto the floor. He then brought his hands behind his head as I instructed him to do. 

I dropped the gun and pulled him by his shirt, "For stealing and breaking my heart, miel." 

"You hardly have any right." He rolled his eyes, refusing to play any more with me. 

I pushed the playful banter aside as a thousand questions rummaged through my mind, "How are you here? Why are you here? What happened to your mother? Did you leave her for me? Do you still love me? What am I to you?-" I rambled on and on, slightly panicked. He ran his finger across my lips to silence me. It didn't work. "Are you okay?" 

His arms tightened around my rib cage, "Okay?! That word doesn't even describe what I'm feeling right now. I need you to bring me to Lotor." 

I began to fill up with hope, Keith was here with me after all. I learned to make my home where he was, even if I was forced to exterminate a group of half-Galra chicks as a galactic assassin. That sounded cooler than what it really was. It was destined isolation. 

I grabbed Keith's arm and dragged him over to center of the ship. Lotor's eyes broadened at his presence. He gripped onto the chair he had sat in and stood up. 

His regal posture came naturally as he strutted by and made physical contact with Keith, "Have you come to assist us in my vengeance?" His eyes hardened and I prepared to lunge and beat the prince. I didn't like Lotor touching Keith at all. 

Keith, though short in height, stood his ground as tall as a statue, "Please elaborate on the terms of your agreement." 

I was weary, "I exchanged three pieces of information and in turn I would serve as his mercenary. We found Pidge's dad, we defeated Zarkon, and we found your mom. I'm not going to get out of this so easily?" 

He bit his lip as he thought, "Were there any other terms?" He still stood with the prince towering above him. 

"Oh yeah! If Lotor had lied or told me anything false our deal was broken." I innocently answered, slightly unsure of what Keith was doing. That was a lie. I knew just as well as Lotor did. 

"Lotor, my mother is dead. I have spent the past week with my delusional aunt." Keith's face was disgustingly smug. His words were eerie as if he were content at the fact. 

Keith and I waited for Lotor to respond. "I am a man of my word." He hissed in distaste. We had successfully outsmarted the antihero at his own game. 

The ship that Keith had flew was too damaged to be repaired on site. Everyone had claimed that he was the most skilled pilot of his time. Reckless was also a great word to use. Keith, continuously flying into the spacecraft Lotor and I were on, made it obligatory for us to stop. We had to turn around and head back to the castle. 

"I didn't know you had a heart, prince Lotor, have you decided to help rule the republic alongside me? You do have some rather impeccable ideas concerning politics." Allura came out to greet the three of us. She buttered up Lotor, forcing him to stay and not seek retribution. This was good for both of them. Allura had gained a useful political ally and Lotor was learning to move on. "You two will probably need a stronger ship than what I gave you." She winked.

"Thanks, Allura." I hugged her and then later so did Keith. 

Keith and I both teased Lotor and his obvious affections toward the princess. His face became red as Allura rolled her dainty, aqua eyes. The moment was too sweet.

She kissed her ally on the cheek and wrapped her arm around his, "Farewell, red paladin and blue paladin of Voltron, it was truly an honor to serve alongside you in this war. I wish only the best of fortune upon your lives together." A tear was stuck in her lower eyelash. 

Keith and I stood next to each other, holding each other's hand. We gazed into one another's eyes and then we moved our eyes to look at our battle scars. Keith took his finger and ran it against the cut on my lip. He kissed it gently. I had just now noticed the faint blemishes that came up from the sides of his cheeks. They were where his Galra markings had once been. 

"Well, that's what I'll call one hell of a rollercoaster. I'm surprised they haven't shut down the amusement park yet, it's obviously way too dangerous for kids like us." 

Keith's violet eyes beat along with his heart's pulse, "That's the fun part, Lance, the thrill of it all. Do you regret any of this at all?" 

I bit the corner of my scared lip, "Yes?! This damn war has ruined my beautiful complexion! I haven't had a tan since we were on Earth!"

He tugged onto my military, green jacket with orange patches. He burrowed his head into my shoulder, "I hate you sometimes." 

I kissed the top of his head, "I thought we had a bonding moment? I cradled you in my arms," I said softly.

We stepped into the Altean ship after our goodbyes. We finally left the space between us behind us, once and for good. 

We crash landed onto the grassy terrain of Earth's surface. I threw off my shoes and discarded away my socks as I began to roll across the ground. Keith teased me and my homesickness as I began to cry. Mud and grass now stuck onto me. 

I pulled Keith down next to me, covering his face with the wet soil, "That's disgusting Lance, stop!" He shrieked. I rubbed my lips with mud and kissed him to have him stop. 

We hadn't been on Earth but for thirty minutes until rain began to pour down. The rain washed away the mud that tainted our skin. Each droplet of rain tickled as it made its way down my bare neck. The intensity increased and we felt the chilled tears of the sky. I made Keith get up as I twirled him around, he slid and fell on the soggy floor yet again.

I danced victoriously in the rain, spreading my arms out as if to take flight. The wind blew on my face, it was as if Earth was kissing me. 

"Keith, miel." I began, brushing my wet palm across his cheek. "I think we should get married." 

Keith pulled me down onto the ground, rolling on top of me. His weight kept me from getting up, "Not unless I marry you first." He flushed.

I took the necklace he had left behind and put it across his neck. I flicked the gem as it danced like the jumping raindrops that repeled the touch of the ground.

We mutually agreed to not spend the night out in the open of a cold, wet field. We took each other's hand as we ran to the nearest bus stop that we could find. The rain still drizzled. 

We were told that we were in the general location of my hometown city. Keith and I had managed to make the last bus, the bus driver insisted that he'd take us home.

The public transportation vehicle was for the most part empty for the time of day it was, it being very late in the evening. We had to endure several bumps during our passage. Neither of us were used to anything that emulated a car, all we could remember was the feeling of us driving our robotic, flying lions out in space. It was an adjustment that both took us by surprise. We cuddled on the bus seat.

Keith fell asleep on my shoulder while drooling on my drying t-shirt. I tapped him gently awake, "Miel, wake up, it's our stop." 

I carried him off as I thanked the bus driver for taking us home. He had gone out of his way to help us and I genuinely appreciated his generosity. Keith slumped over to the doorway as I wrapped my arm around his. I carefully untangled it as both of my hands found their way pounding on the front door of my house. The door creaked open.

"I'm back, mamá."


End file.
